Part 15

The _urson_ might be called the _bristly beaver_, he being of the same country, the same size, and the same form of body. He has, like the beaver, two long, strong, and sharp incisive teeth at the end of each jaw. Besides his prickles, which are short, and almost covered with hair, like the beaver, he has a double coat, the first consists of long and soft hairs, and the second of a down, which is still more soft and smooth. In the young ursons the prickles are proportionably larger, more apparent, and the hair shorter and scarcer than in the adults.

This animal avoids moist places, and is even fearful of wetting himself. They make their habitations under the roots of great hollow trees, sleep very much, and chiefly feed upon the bark of juniper-bushes. In winter the snow serves them for drink; and in summer they lap water like a dog. The savages eat their flesh, and strip the bristles off the hide, which they make use of instead of pins and needles, and clothe themselves with the fur.

THE TANREC AND THE TENDRAC.

The _Tanrecs_, or _Tendracs_, are small animals of the East Indies, which resemble a little our hedge-hogs, but differ from them sufficiently to constitute a distinct species. This is strongly proved by its not rolling itself up in the shape of a ball, like the hedge-hog; and besides the tanrecs are found at Madagascar, where there are also hedge-hogs of the same species as ours, which are not called there tanrecs but _soras_.

There appears to be two species of tanrecs, or, perhaps, two different races; the first, which is nearly as large as our hedge-hog, has its muzzle proportionably longer than the second; its ears are also more apparent, and is more furnished with prickles than the second, to which we have given the name of tendrac to distinguish it from the first. The tendrac (_fig. 164._) is not bigger than a large rat; its muzzle and ears are shorter than those of the tanrec, which is also covered with shorter prickles, but they are as numerous as those of the hedge-hog; the tendrac, on the contrary, has them only on the head, neck, and withers, the rest of the body being covered with a coarse hair resembling the bristles of a hog.

These small animals, whose legs are short, move but slowly; they grunt, and wallow in the mire like hogs; they are chiefly in creeks and harbours of salt water; they multiply in great numbers, and dig themselves holes in the ground, whither they retire and sleep for several months. During this torpid state their hair falls off, which grows again upon their revival. They are usually very fat, and although their flesh is insipid, soft, and spongy, yet the Indians consider it as a very great delicacy.

_Engraved for Barr's Buffon_

THE GIRAFFE, OR CAMELOPARD.

The Giraffe (_fig. 165._) is one of the tallest, most useful, most beautiful, and harmless animals in nature. The enormous disproportion of his legs, the fore ones being as long again as those behind, is a great obstacle to the exercise of his powers. His motion is waddling, slow, and stiff; he can neither fly from his enemies in a free state, nor serve his master in a domestic one. The species is not very numerous, and has always been confined to the desarts of Ethiopia, and to some other provinces of Southern Africa and India. As these countries were unknown to the Greeks, Aristotle makes no mention of this animal. Pliny speaks of it, and Oppian describes it in a manner that is far from equivocal. "The camelopardalis (says this author) has some resemblance to the camel; it has a spotted skin like the panther, and a neck as long as the camel; its head and ears are small, its feet broad, and its legs long, but the last are very unequal, the fore ones being much longer than those behind, which are so short, that when the animal is standing it has somewhat the appearance of a dog sitting upon his posteriors. There are two prominences upon the head just between the ears, which resemble two small and straight horns. Its mouth is like the stag's; its teeth small and white; its eyes full of fire; its tail short, and furnished with black hairs at the end." By adding to this description of Oppian those of Heliodorus and Strabo, we shall have a sufficient idea of the camelopard. "The ambassadors of Ethiopia (says Heliodorus) brought an animal about the size of a camel, whose skin was speckled with beautiful and glossy spots, the hinder parts were much lower than the anterior; the neck was slender, although rising from a tolerably thick body; the head resembled that of the camel, and in size was scarce double that of the ostrich; the eyes appeared tinctured with different colours. The motion of this animal was different from that of all other quadrupeds, who in walking lift their legs diagonally, that is, the right leg before with the left leg behind; but the camelopard goes naturally in an amble, with its two right or its two left legs pacing together. It is a gentle animal, and may be conducted any where with a small cord tied round its head." "There is (says Strabo) a large animal in Ethiopia called _camelopardalis_, although it bears no resemblance to the panther, for its skin is not spotted in the same manner; the spots of the panther are circular, and those of this animal are long, and nearly resembling those of the fawn, or young stag. The posterior parts of its body are much lower than the anterior; so that towards the rump it is not higher than the ox, while its shoulders are higher than those of the camel. From this disproportion it cannot run very swift. This animal is gentle, does no injury, and feeds upon grass, leaves, and vegetables." Among the moderns, the first good description we meet with is that of Belon. "I saw (says he) an animal at the castle of Cairo, which is commonly called _zurnapa_; the Latins anciently stiled it _camelopardalis_, a name compounded of leopard and camel, for it is sprinkled with spots like the first, and has a long neck like the latter. It is a very beautiful animal, as gentle as a lamb, and more sociable than any other wild beast. Its head is almost like that of the stag, excepting its size; on it are two small horns, about half a foot long, covered with hair; those of the male are longer than those of the female. They both have ears as large as those of a cow, and the tongue black, like that of the ox; it has no incisive teeth in the upper jaw; its neck is long, straight, and slender; its horns round; its legs thin and long, but so low behind that the animal appears to be sitting; its feet are like those of the ox; its tail, which hangs down almost to its hoof, is round, and the hair on it is three times as thick as that of a horse; the colour of the hair on the body is white and red; its manner of running is like the camel's; when it runs its two fore feet go together; it lies on its belly, and has a callous substance on the breast and joints like that animal. When it grazes it is obliged to spread its fore legs very wide, and even then feeds with great difficulty, therefore it rather chooses to feed on the leaves of trees than to graze in the fields, especially as its neck is exceedingly long, and can reach to a great height."

Gillius's description seems still better than that of Belon. "I have seen (says Gillius, chap. ix.) three camelopards at Cairo; on their heads are two horns six inches long, and in the middle of their forehead a tubercle rises to about the height of two inches, which appears like a third horn. This animal is sixteen feet high when he holds up his head. Its neck alone is seven feet, and it is twenty-two feet long from the tip of the nose to the end of the tail; its fore and hind legs are nearly of an equal height; but the thighs before are so long in comparison to those behind, that its back inclines like the roof of an house. Its whole body is sprinkled with large yellow spots which are nearly of a square form. Its feet are cloven like the ox; its upper lip hangs over the under; its tail is slender, with hair on it to the very point; it ruminates like the ox, and, like that animal, feeds upon herbage; its mane extends from the top of the head to the back. When it walks it seems as if its legs and flanks on both sides were alternately lame; and when it grazes, or drinks, it is obliged to spread its fore legs prodigiously wide."

Gesner affirms, upon the authority of Belon, that this animal sheds its horns like the deer; but I must confess that I never could find such a fact asserted in that author. He merely says, as above, that the horns of the camelopard are covered with hair; and he only speaks in one other place of that animal, namely, when treating of the axis, where he says, "The camelopard has a white skin, with broad spots sprinkled over it, which, though red, are not so deep as those of the axis." This fact, which however I have not been able to meet with in any part of Belon's work, would be of great importance to decide the nature of the giraffe, for if it sheds its horns every year it belongs to the stag kind; and, on the contrary, if its horns are permanent, it must be considered as belonging to the ox or goat species; but, without this precise knowledge, we cannot assert, as our nomenclators have done, that the giraffe is of the stag genus; and we are not a little surprised that Hasselquist, who has given a very long and dry description of this animal, has been silent as to its nature. After having methodically, that is to say, scholastically, heaped together a hundred useless and trifling characters, he does not say a single word on the substance of the horns, and leaves us ignorant whether they are solid or hollow, or whether they fall off or not. I refer to the description of Hasselquist, not for its utility, but for its singularity, and to excite travellers to make use of their own knowledge, and not to view objects through the spectacles of other men.

In the year 1764 a drawing and an account of the giraffe was sent to the Academy of Sciences, by which we are informed that this animal is not particular to Ethiopia, but is also found in the neighbourhood of the Cape of Good Hope.[AH] The drawing was so badly executed that no use can be made of it,[AI] but as the account contains a sort of description we have given it a place. "In an excursion from the Cape, made in 1762, we travelled about two hundred leagues up the country, and met with the _camelopardalis_, a drawing of which we have subjoined. Its body resembles that of an ox, and its head and neck those of the horse. All we met with were of a white colour, sprinkled with brown spots. They have two horns on the head, about a foot long, and their feet are hoofed. We killed two of these animals, and sent their skins to Europe, the several measurements of which were as follows: the length of the head one foot eight inches; the height, from the bottom of the fore foot to the withers, ten feet; and from the withers to the top of the head seven feet; in all seventeen feet in height. The length from the withers to the reins is five feet six inches, and from thence to the tail one foot six; the length, therefore, of the whole body is seven feet, and the height, from the hind feet to the reins, eight feet five inches. The great disproportion in the height and length of this animal seems to prevent its being of any service. It feeds on the leaves of trees, and when it wants to drink, or take any thing off the ground, it is obliged to kneel with its fore legs."

[AH] Vaillant also, in his travels into the interior parts of Africa, asserts, that he met with giraffes in very great numbers.

[AI] This we have also obviated, our figure being from a drawing taken by M. Vaillant from life.

In inspecting the accounts travellers have given of the giraffe, I find they all agree that it can reach with its head to the height of sixteen or seventeen feet when standing erect, and that the fore legs are as high again as the hind ones, so that it seems as if it was seated upon its crupper. They likewise agree that it cannot run very swift, by reason of this disproportion; that it is very gentle, and that by this quality, other habits, and even by the shape of the body, it partakes more of the nature of the camel than of any other animal; that it is among the number of ruminating animals, and, like them, is deficient of the incisive teeth in its upper jaw. By the testimonies of some travellers we also find that the giraffe is to be met with in the southern parts of Africa, as well as in those of Asia.

It is very evident, from what we have mentioned, that the giraffe is a peculiar species, and totally different from every other animal. If we would refer it to any it should rather be to the camel than the stag, or the ox. It is true the giraffe has two small horns, and the camel none; but they resemble each other so much in other respects that I am not surprised at some travellers having given it the name of the _Indian camel_. Besides, we are ignorant of the substance of the horns of the giraffe, and, consequently, we know not if in that part he approaches nearer to the stag than to the ox; and, possibly, they may be of a substance different from either; they may be composed of united hairs like those of the rhinoceros, or of a substance and texture peculiar to themselves. The reasons which have induced nomenclators to rank the giraffe with the stag kind, seem to have arisen from the pretended passage of Belon, quoted by Gesner, which indeed would be decisive if it were true. They seem also to have misunderstood what authors have said of the hair of those horns; they have imagined that the writers have said the horns of the giraffe were covered with hair, like the fresh-sprung horns of the stag, and from thence concluded they were of the same nature; but, in fact, the giraffe's horns are only surrounded with coarse hair, and not covered with a down, or velvet, like those of the stag. This circumstance tends to support the probability that the horns of the giraffe are composed of united hair, like those of the rhinoceros, and their bluntness at the extremities greatly favours this idea. If, again, we consider that the elk, rein-deer, stag, roe-buck, &c. have their horns always divided into branches or antlers, and that, on the contrary, the horns of the giraffe are only simple, and consist of one stem, we must be convinced that they are not of the same nature, unless analogy be entirely violated. The tubercle is in the middle of the head, which, according to travellers, seem to form a third horn, is another strong circumstance in favour of this opinion. The two horns which are not pointed, but blunt at the ends, are, perhaps, only tubercles somewhat longer than the former. All travellers also uniformly inform us that the female giraffes have horns like the males, but that they are smaller. If this animal were really of the stag kind, analogy would here also be violated, for of all animals of that genus there is only the female rein-deer that has horns, the reason of which we have before mentioned. On the other hand, as the giraffe cannot graze but with great difficulty on account of the excessive height of its fore legs; as it chiefly and almost solely feeds on the leaves and buds of trees, it may be presumed, that the horns, which are the most apparent superfluity of the organic particles derived from the food, would be analogous to the nature of the food, as well as the horns of the stag. Time will confirm the propriety of one or other of these conjectures. One word more in Hasselquist's description would have fixed these doubts, and clearly determined the genus of this animal. But scholars, who have only the gamut of their master in their heads, or rather in their pockets, cannot avoid making blunders and essential omissions, because they entirely renounce investigation, which should guide every observer of Nature, and view her productions through the false medium of arbitrary method, which only serves to hinder them from reflecting on the objects they meet with, and to calculate the description of them on a bad and erroneous model. As, in reality, all objects differ materially from each other, so they ought all to be treated differently; one single striking character happily discovered, is sometimes decisive, and often conveys more knowledge of a subject than a thousand trifling indexes. Whenever they are numerous they consequently become equivocal and common, and then they are at least superfluous, if not prejudicial, to the real knowledge of Nature, who sports with the forms we prescribe, soars above all method, and can only be perceived by the penetrating eye of Genius.

SUPPLEMENT.

From M. Allemand we received a letter, dated October, 1766, containing a number of excellent observations respecting this animal, and from which the following is an extract: "I am in possession of a stuffed giraffe, and since you expressed a desire to know the nature of its horns I cut one of them off, and send it to you; it is, however, necessary to observe, that it belonged to a very young one. I received it from the governor of the Cape, who informed me that it was killed as it was lying by the side of its mother; it was about six feet in height, and its horns did not exceed two inches and a half. These horns were covered all over with skin and hairs; the base was more than an inch broad, forming an obtuse cone; and to be certain whether it was solid or hollow I sawed it through longitudinally with that part of the skull to which it adhered, and I found its texture to resemble that of the horns of the stag more than any other animal. If indeed I were positive that a horn which was sent me as belonging to a giraffe did really belong to that animal, I should not hesitate to say there was no difference between them, except in the figure, this being straight, and without branches. With respect to the legs I conceive their disproportion in length has been greatly magnified, for the difference between the fore and hind ones of this young animal is very slight."

The horns of the giraffe being solid, and their substance similar to those of the stag, there could be no doubt of his ranking in the same genus, especially if he sheds his horns annually of which, however, we are still uncertain; but we may safely assert he ought to be separated from that of the ox, and all those animals whose horns are hollow; and, indeed, until the contrary be proved to be the fact, we cannot do otherwise than consider the giraffe as a peculiar species, in the same manner as the elephant, rhinoceros, the hippopotamus, forming a species which has no collaterals, and which seems to be a privilege conferred by Nature simply on those which are of the largest magnitude.

In the description of M. Allemand we freely acknowledge that he has displayed much accuracy, and a perfect intimacy with the subject; but yet I apprehend that the longest of the horns he did me the favour to transmit does not belong to a giraffe, for the short one is very thick, and that quite thin, comparatively with their different lengths. In an anonymous description which I received from Holland of this animal it is stated, that the horns of a full-grown giraffe are a foot long, and as thick as a man's arm; according to which the horn we are now considering being six inches long, it ought to be full twice as thick, as it is, in reality; and, indeed, it so perfectly resembles the first horns of a young stag, that we can have little doubt of its belonging to that animal.

As to the nature of the giraffe's horns I feel no hesitation in coinciding with the opinion of M. Allemand. The protuberance on the front is osseous, and may be considered as a third horn; and as the horns adhere to the cranium, they should be considered as osseous prolongations of the head. In short the horn of the giraffe appears to be a bone, differing from that of the ox by its covering, the latter being entirely surrounded with a horny substance, and the former with hair and skin.

THE LAMA AND THE PACOS.

There are examples in every language, of two different names being applied to the same animal, one of which has a relation to its wild state, and the other to its domestic. The wild boar and the hog are the same animal, under two names, no ways relative to any difference in their natures, but to the condition of the species; one part of which is under the power of man and the other independent. It is the same with respect to the lamas and the pacos, which were the only domestic animals of the ancient Americans: these names belonged to them in their domestic state. The wild lama was called huanacus, or guanaco; and the wild pacos, vicuna, or vigogne.[AJ] I conceived this remark necessary to avoid the confusion of names. These animals are to be found only in he New World: they seem even to belong to some particular parts, beyond the limits of which they are never to be seen. They appear confined to that chain of mountains which stretches from New Spain to Terra Magellanica: they inhabit the highest regions of the globe, and seem to require a purer and more refined air than that of our highest mountains.

[AJ] The Peruvians yet call the lama by the name of _runa_, which signifies sheep. _Lama_ is a generic word signifying _animal_, _brute_, and at this day they understand by the word _runa llasna_, an Indian sheep. A modern traveller observes, that the _guanaco_, and the _chillebueque_ are animals quite distinct from the _lama_. It is therefore improperly that these names are found among these cited by Buffon as applied to the _lama_.

It is singular, that although the lama and the pacos are domestic in Peru, Mexico, and Chili, like the horses in Europe, or the camels in Arabia, we scarcely know any thing of them; and notwithstanding the Spaniards have had possession of those vast countries for above centuries, not one of their authors have given us complete histories, nor an exact description of these animals, which they are using every day! It is pretended indeed, that they cannot be transported into Europe, nor even be brought from their heights, without, at least, risking their lives in a short time; but at Quito, Lima, and many other towns, where persons of literature reside, they might have designed, described, and dissected these animals. Herrera says but very little about them, and Garcilassa only speaks from other authors. Acosta and Gregoire de Bolivar have made the greatest collections of facts relative to the natural dispositions of lamas, and the advantages to be derived from them; but they have left us in the dark as to their interior conformation, and of the length of time they go with young; whether the lama and the pacos are two species absolutely separate from each other; whether they mix together, or whether there are any intermediate breed, and a number of other facts necessary to render their history complete.

Although it is pretended these animals die if they are removed from their native country, yet it is certain that after the conquest of Peru, and for a long time after, some of them were transported into Europe. The animal spoken of by Gesner, by the name of _allocamelus_, and of which he has given a figure, is a lama, which was brought alive from Peru to Holland in 1558. It is the same with that Matthiolus mentions by the name of _elaphocamelus_, the description of which he has given with great care and accuracy. The pacos, and, perhaps, also the lamas, have been often transported into Spain, to endeavour to naturalize them. We ought, therefore, to be better informed of the nature of these animals, which might prove very useful to us; for, probably, they would thrive as well upon the Pyrenean and Alpine mountains as on the Cordeliers.