nowhere to be met with in great numbers. In countries unmolested by
the intrusive foot of man, the giraffe is found generally in herds
varying from twelve to sixteen; but I have not unfrequently met with
herds containing thirty individuals, and on one occasion I counted
forty together; this, however, was owing to chance, and about sixteen
may be reckoned as the average number of a herd. These herds are
composed of giraffes of various sizes, from the young giraffe of nine
or ten feet in height, to the dark chestnut-colored old bull of the
herd, whose exalted head towers above his companions, generally
attaining a height of upwards of eighteen feet. The females are of
lower stature and more delicately formed than the males, their height
averaging from sixteen to seventeen feet.

Some writers have discovered ugliness and a want of grace in the
giraffe, but I consider that he is one of the most strikingly
beautiful animals in the creation; and when a herd of them is seen
scattered through a grove of the picturesque parasol-topped acacias
which adorn their native plains, and on whose uppermost shoots they
are enabled to browse by the colossal height with which nature has so
admirably endowed them, he must indeed be slow of conception who fails
to discover both grace and dignity in all their movements.

On the 24th, at the dawn of day, we inspanned, and trekked about five
hours in a northeasterly course, through a boundless open country,
sparingly adorned with dwarfish old tree. In the distance the long-
sought mountains of Bamangwato at length loomed blue before me. We
halted beside a glorious fountain, which at once made me forget all
the cares and difficulties I had encountered in reaching it.

The name of this fountain was Massouey, but I at once christened it