Giraffe Hunting

The pleasure of a giraffe hunt is Indisputable, but it is one that no real sportsman will repeat more than twlce, says Harper's Weekly. A hard spur and a sjambock gallop through bush and thora, with more than an even chance of your nag putting hia foot in a jackal's oarth, a gradual overnauling of the glant mammals that are sailing without apparent exertion in front of you, a hasty dismount unless you are lucky enough to be able to shoot from horseback, a bullet planted Just above the tail and penetrating through the tough skin into the heart and lungs, and with a crash your game comes to earth, and you are standing, dripping with persplration after your two-milo run, and outrageously scratched wlth haakdoorn, over the body of what is surely the strangest animal that even South África can produce. The trouble is that beyond the chance of being thrown or of coming in contact with a tree there is not much danger in the pursuit of the giraffe. No animal could be more gentle or defenseless. You have the thrilling excitement of a tweuty minutes' burst, but you miss what should be the spice of the big game hunting- the risk. All that you need in giraffe hunting ia a good nag; if possible, one that has been used to the business. It is hard to keep an inesperieneed norse from boring to one cide when the disagreeable smell of an old giraffe buil comes down the wind. With that and a so! id Martini-Hemry bullet- the hollow express ones are not firm enough to get far beyond tus inch or inch and a half of brazen hide that incases these monsters- success is almost certain. Giraffes do not put on their fullest speed unless very hard pressed. They start oif at an easy, ambling gait, moving the legs on one side simultaneously, like an American pacor. Their black busby tails corkscrew over their backs and their immense necks bob forward at each stride. They do not appear to be going very fast, but you will flnd you have to be well mounted to get within shooting distance of them. If not run down in the first two miles they stand a good chance of getting clean away. When going their hardest they change their gait into an extraordinary sort of gallop, their hind legs being well straddled out and brought forward, one on each side, in front of the forelegs. It is a jerky, convulsive, awkward movement, but wonderfully effeotive as a means of getting over the ground.