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GMO Food
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CONTEMPORARY WORLD ISSUES
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Books in the Contemporary World Issues series address vital
issues in today’s society such as genetic engineering, pollu-
tion, and biodiversity. Written by professional writers, schol-
ars, and nonacademic experts, these books are authoritative,
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CONTEMPORARY WORLD ISSUES

GMO Food

A REFERENCE HANDBOOK
Second Edition

David E. Newton
Copyright © 2021 by ABC-CLIO, LLC
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by
any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or
otherwise, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review,
without prior permission in writing from the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Newton, David E., author.
Title: GMO food : a reference handbook / David E. Newton.
Other titles: Genetically modified organisms food
Description: Second edition. | Santa Barbara, California :
ABC-CLIO, [2021] | Series: Contemporary world issues |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020038772 (print) | LCCN 2020038773
(ebook) | ISBN 9781440877766 (hardcover) | ISBN
9781440877773 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Genetically modified foods. | Genetically modified
foods—Social aspects. | Genetically modified foods—Risk
assessment. | Transgenic plants.
Classification: LCC TP248.65.F66 N49 2021 (print) |
LCC TP248.65.F66 (ebook) | DDC 664—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020038772
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020038773
ISBN: 978-1-4408-7776-6 (print)
978-1-4408-7777-3 (ebook)
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Contents

Preface to the First Edition, xiii

Preface to the Second Edition, xvii

1 Background and History, 3

Hybridization, 4
The Birth of Genetics, 6
The Gene, 7
The Process of Genetic Engineering, 15
Concerns about rDNA Research, 20
History of rDNA Regulation, 25
Breakthroughs in rDNA Research, 28
Genetically Modified Animals, 30
Technical Problems, 30
Regulatory Issues, 35
Genetically Modified Plants, 37
Bt Crops, 38
Types of Genetically Modified Plants, 40
Conclusion, 45
References, 46

vii
viii Contents

2 Problems, Controversies, and Solutions, 61

Opposition to Genetically Modified Foods in the

United States, 61
Public Opinion on Genetically Modified Foods, 64
Public Opinion in the United States, 64
Public Opinion in Europe, 70
Regulation of Genetically Modified Crops and
Foods, 72
Regulation in the United States, 72
Regulation in the European Union, 76
Labeling of Genetically Modified Foods, 83
The Labeling Issue in the EU, 83
The Labeling Issue in the United States, 87
GMO Regulations Worldwide, 90
Genetically Modified Crops and Foods: Pros and
Cons, 91
Agricultural System, 92
Potential Benefits, 92
Potential Harm, 98
Human Health, 99
Potential Benefits, 99
Potential Harm, 101
The Natural Environment, 106
Potential Benefits, 106
Potential Harm, 108
Potential Social and Economic Harm, 111
 Contents ix

Conclusion, 112
References, 113

3 Perspectives, 133
Introduction, 133
Genetic Engineering in Agriculture: Uncertainties
and Risks, 133
Debal Deb
The Case for Teaching Food in Schools, 142
Yussra MT Ebrahim
Improving Crops with CRISPR, 146
Phill Jones
In the Know: Genetically Modified Foods, 150
Rashmi Nemade
Genetically Modified Organisms, 155
Tony Owen
GMO Foods in Developing Countries, 158
Santosh Pandey
Labeling Bioengineered Foods: Theory vs. Reality, 162
Ellen Rubin
Genetically Modified Crops in Africa: Fear of the
Unknown? 167
Elizabeth Shoo
Accepting Genetically Modified Crops in India, 171
Sweta
A Growing World Demands New Food Technology, 175
Susan Young
x Contents

4 Profiles, 183

Introduction, 183
Biotechnology Regulatory Services, 183
Biotechnology Innovation Organization, 185
José Bové (1953–), 188
Herbert Boyer (1936–), 190
Canadian Biotechnology Action Network, 192
Center for Food Safety, 194
Emmanuelle Charpentier (1968–), 196
Mary-Dell Chilton (1939–), 198
Stanley N. Cohen (1935–), 200
CropLife International, 202
Jennifer Doudna (1964–), 204
Food & Water Watch, 207
Robert T. Fraley (1953–), 209
John E. Franz (1929–), 211
Dennis Gonsalves (1943–), 212
Greenpeace International, 215
International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech
Applications, 217
Steve Lindow (1951–), 220
Mark Lynas (1973–), 222
Monsanto (Bayer Crop Science), 224
Non-GMO Project, 227
 Contents xi

Ingo Potrykus (1933–), 228

Maxine Singer (1931–), 232
Marc van Montagu (1933–), 234
World Health Organization, 237

5 Data and Documents, 243

Introduction, 243
Data, 243
Table 5.1. Genetically Engineered Crops in
the United States, 2000–19 (percent of
all planted crop; all genetically engineered
varieties), 244
Table 5.2. Number of Releases of Genetically
Engineered Organism Varieties Approved by
APHIS, 1985–2013, 245
Table 5.3. Total Number of GMO Crop Releases
Approved by APHIS, to 2013, 246
Table 5.4. Number of Releases Approved by APHIS
by Genetic Trait, to 2013, 247
Table 5.5. Prevalence of Bt IR and Stacked
Gene Crops in U.S. Agriculture, 2000–19
(percentage of each crop), 247
Documents, 248
Plant Patent Act of 1930, 248
Diamond v. Chakrabarty, 447 U.S. 303 (1980), 249
Coordinated Framework for the Regulation of
Biotechnology (1986), 251
Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety (2000), 254
xii Contents

Regulation of Genetically Modified Foods by the

European Union (2003), 257
Mendocino County (California) Ban on
Genetically Modified Crops (2004/2019), 258
The Safety of Genetically Modified Foods, GAO
Report (2002), 262
Invoking of Preemption (North Dakota, SB2277;
2005), 264
Monsanto Co. v. Geertson Seed Farms, 561 U.S. 139
(2010), 265
Bowman v. Monsanto, et al., 569 U.S. 11-796
(2013), 267
National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard
(Public Law 114-216) (2016), 269
National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard
(2018), 271
Regulation of Gene-Editing Technology
(2018), 276

6 Resources, 283

Books, 283
Articles, 293
Reports, 308
Internet Sources, 311

7 Chronology, 327

Glossary, 341
Index, 349
Preface to the First Edition

Humans have been altering the genomes (genetic composition)

of plants and animals for millennia. At first, these modifica-
tions were largely trial-and-error events in which organisms
with desirable traits were crossbred with each other to produce
new plants or animals better suited for food, for transporta-
tion, for working in the field, to be resistant to pests, or for
other purposes. The first major breakthrough in the process of
genetic modification occurred in the late nineteenth century
with the discovery of the genetic units (genes) through which
characteristics are transmitted from generation to generation.
However, breeders and biological researchers had no way of
using this new knowledge to improve the traditional methods
of producing new organisms by crossbreeding.
The next major breakthrough, however, did cross that hurdle.
In 1953, American biologist James Watson and English chem-
ist Francis Crick showed that genes were not more nor less than
chemical molecules of a substance called deoxyribonucleic acid
(DNA). That discovery opened new vistas for the modification
of plants and animals because DNA, like any other chemical,
can be modified, at least in principle, in the same way that any
other chemical can be modified. For the first time in history,
researchers were able to change the chemical structure of DNA
from a cat, alligator, or tobacco plant, thereby producing a new
type of cat, alligator, or tobacco plant. And thus was born the
science of genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
Among the most obvious targets of the new technology were
food organisms, plants, and animals that are bred primarily as

xiii
xiv Preface to the First Edition

foodstuffs for humans, domestic animals, and other organ-

isms. The technology made it possible, for example, to create
new types of plants that are resistant to pesticides, making it
possible to use these pesticides on crops without affecting the
crops themselves. It also made possible the development of ani-
mals used for meat that are fatter or leaner, that mature more
quickly, that are less susceptible to disease, or that have any one
of a number of other desirable traits.
The success of this new technology is reflected in the fact
that, as of 2013, 90 percent of all the cotton and corn and
93 percent of all the soybeans grown in the United States is
genetically modified. Worldwide, the amount of land under
cultivation for genetically modified (GM) crops has risen
from essentially zero in 1996 to more than 70 million hect-
ares (170 million acres) in developed nations and just slightly
less than that amount in developing nations. Today, crops are
modified for a host of purposes, including pest resistance, dis-
ease resistance, cold tolerance, drought tolerance, resistance to
salinity, improved nutritional value, and the synthetic produc-
tion of drugs and other useful chemical products.
Despite the undeniable success of GM crops at this point
in history, critics have raised a number of concerns about the
development, production, and use of such foods. Those crit-
ics often argue that, even after years of research, scientists
and the general public simply do not know enough about the
potential health risks of GM foods. They are concerned that
such foods may cause cancer in humans and other animals to
whom they are fed or that they may produce allergic reactions
in people who have a predisposition to such conditions. Crit-
ics also worry about the potential harm that GM foods could
cause to the natural environment. They suggest that genetically
engineered traits might be transferred in nature to unintended
target organisms, producing frightening “super-organisms,”
which might be resistant to human control because of their
modified genomes. Critics also point out that once GM plants
and animals are released to the natural environment, there
 Preface to the First Edition xv

may be no way to control or recover those organisms, should

they turn out to be more dangerous than first thought. Finally,
individuals and organizations who object to the use of GM
technology fear that this technology will only make developing
nations even more dependent on developed nations and multi-
national corporations than they already are.
This book is designed to provide young adults with the fac-
tual background they need to better understand the contro-
versy over GM foods and with the tools to continue their own
research on the topic. Chapter 1 provides the background and
history about the development of genetic engineering technol-
ogy over the centuries, with special emphasis on the period
since the 1950s. Chapter 2 reviews some of the most important
problems and issues associated with GM foods, including the
advantages and disadvantages of the development and use of
such products. Chapter 3 provides an opportunity for stake-
holders in the debate to express their personal views on some
specific aspect of the overall issue of GM foods. ­Chapter 4
includes profiles of a number of individuals and organiza-
tions that have been or are involved in the controversy over
the development and use of GM foods. Chapter 5 includes
a number of important documents—court cases, laws, posi-
tion statements, and the like—associated with the topic of GM
foods, as well as some statistical data about the production and
use of such foods. Chapter 6 is an annotated bibliography of
print and electronic sources that contain additional informa-
tion about GM foods. Chapter 7 is a chronology of important
events from prehistory to the modern day on the topic of GM
food. The glossary lists important terms used in the discussion
of the topic.
Preface to the Second Edition

Genetically modified crops and foods have been the subject

of controversy for more than a half century. How have these
inventions changed the production of fruits, vegetables, and
other agricultural products? Can they make a substantial con-
tribution to solving the world’s hunger problems, and if so,
how? What effects will GMO foods and crops have on our
economic system? Do GMO materials pose a threat to human
health? If so, what can be done, if anything, to deal with those
threats? Are GMO crops harmful to the natural environment?
If so, what are the relative risks and benefits of the inclusion of
such crops in our agricultural system? Should there be require-
ments that GMO products be labeled on consumer goods? If
so, what should those labels say? What types of regulation are
needed for the use of GMO foods and crops, and are existing
forms of legislation adequate and effective? And, finally, such
humans even think of “playing God” in making changes in the
natural products in human life?
The first edition of this book attempted to provide readers
with a general introduction to these questions. It presented a
somewhat detailed history of the invention and development of
GMO crops and foods, and the way in which current contro-
versies have developed. It also provided a general introduction
to the details of each of the major issues surrounding GMO
materials. Importantly, the book provided a variety of resources
designed to help the reader identify her or his special areas of
interest on the topic and learn of the great variety of resources
to learn more about those issues.

xvii
xviii Preface to the Second Edition

Some major changes have occurred in the field of GMO

crops and foods since the first edition. One technical develop-
ment, the invention of CRISPR genetic modification technol-
ogy, can truly be classified as a revolution in the field. Indeed,
many authorities in the field are already hinting that the inven-
tors of the technology, Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle
Charpentier, are “shoo-ins” for a Nobel Prize in the field of
biology or medicine. The CRISPR methodology is not only a
remarkable technical achievement but also a potential pathway
to dramatic new ways in changing the genome of plants and
animals (including humans). As a consequence, the appearance
of CRISPR has created a whole new package of social, eco-
nomic, ethical, political, and other problems for researchers,
politicians, governmental officials, and the common man and
woman. This edition of the book explores both the technology
and some of the issues that have arisen as a result of its use.
The second major development in GMO products has been
the adoption of the first major law in the United States deal-
ing with such foods and crops in 2016, a law dealing with the
labeling of GMO foods and crops. The debate over labeling has
been one of the oldest and most contentious of all questions
in the field of GMO technology. Various countries around the
world have taken a variety of stances on the issue of labeling or
not labeling GMO products. As the world’s largest producer
and consumer of GMO products, however, this law has had
special relevance, both in this country and in other nations
around the world.
As with the first edition of this book, this edition provides
readers with a host of resources for use in further study of the
topic. The endnotes at the conclusion of chapters 1 and 2 are
especially recommended as guides to print and suggest elec-
tronic books and articles with more detailed information on
specific aspects of the topic. The bibliography in Chapter 6
extends the number of such resources recommended for the
reader. Chapter 3 once more provides a group of essays by
 Preface to the Second Edition xix

individuals especially interested in one or another topic in the

field of GMO products. Some essays focus on technical issues,
while others present and explain one’s own attitudes about
some features of GMO products and their place in everyday
life and the economy.
GMO Food
1 Background and History

Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have
dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air,
and over every living thing that moves on the earth.
Genesis 1: 28, New King James Version

One of the first commands issued by God, according to the

holy book of the Christian religion, is for humans to “subdue
the Earth,” taking command over all the plants and animals
that God had placed on Earth. At the dawn of human civi-
lization, no matter what religious beliefs one holds, such was
largely the situation in which early humans found themselves;
they stood alone against the rest of the natural world. They had
no cows to supply them with milk, no mules to carry their bur-
dens, no horses to ride to distant places, and no corn or wheat
with which to make their meals. Everything they needed they
had to find in the natural world and kill or collect for their own
needs.
Slowly that situation began to change. Humans realized,
first of all, that they could domesticate some of the wild ani-
mals around them as sources of milk and meat, as beasts of
burden, and to supply hides and other body parts for tools
and ornaments. No one knows precisely when the first animals

A model of DNA shown reflected in a mirror. (Olga Rudyk/­­Dreamstime​.­com)

3
4 GMO Food

were domesticated, although some authorities suggest a date

of about 8000 BCE as the period during which first goats,
and then sheep, were domesticated for human use. Residents
of Mesopotamia were learning about the domestication of not
only animals but also plants at about the same time. They
found ways of taking plants that grew naturally in the envi-
ronment around them and growing them under controlled
conditions not only as sources of food but also as raw materi-
als for clothing, housing, and other basic needs (Larson and
Fuller 2014).

Hybridization
Many millennia after humans began the domestication of wild
plants and animals, they took a significantly more advanced
step: They began to create entirely new plants or animals, not
found in nature, by crossbreeding two different species of natu-
ral plants or animals, a process known as hybridization. Prob-
ably the first animal hybrid was produced by crossing a horse
and a donkey. When the cross involves a male donkey (jackass)
and a female horse (mare), the product is called a mule. A cross
between a female donkey (jenny) and a male horse (stallion)
results in the birth of a hinny. Hinnies are depicted in Egyptian
tomb paintings as early as 1400 BCE, and mules can be identi-
fied in Mesopotamian art dating to the first millennium BCE
(Sherman 2002, 42).
The origins of plant hybridization are also somewhat diffi-
cult to trace, although there is some evidence that the first rice
hybrids may have been produced by about 2000 BCE when
rice native to Japan (Oryza sativa japonica) was hybridized on
the Indian subcontinent to form a new strain, O. sativa indica
(“Indian Archaeobotany Watch: Lahuradewa” 2008). O. sativa
japonica also made its way to the African continent by about
1500 BCE, where it was domesticated and hybridized with a
native form of rice, O. barthii, to form a new species, O. glaber-
rima (Hirst 2019; Linares 2002, 16360).
 Background and History 5

For more than 3,000 years, agricultural workers have con-

tinued to use hybridization techniques to improve the quality
of domestic plants and animals. To a large extent, these tech-
niques have relied on trial-and-error methods of crossing dif-
ferent organisms with each other to produce certain desirable
traits. The fact that experimentalists did not know the scientific
basis for the production of hybrids did not mean that such
methods were often not elegant, sophisticated, and produc-
tive. Over time, in fact, they produced hybrid animals such
as ligers (a cross between lions and tigers), beefalo (cow and
buffalo), cama (camel and llama), savannah (domestic cat and
serval), donkra (donkey and zebra), and dzo (domestic cow
and yak), as well as hybrid plants such as the Amarcrinum (a
cross between the Amaryllis and Crinum genera), peppermint
(spearmint and watermint), Chitalpa (desert willow [Chilopsis
linearis] and southern catalpa [Catalpa bignonioides]), Leyland
cypress (Monterey cypress [Cupressus macrocarpa] and Alaska
cedar [Chamaecyparis nootkatensis]), and limequat (key lime
and kumquat).
Hybrid technologies can be subdivided into two major cat-
egories: interspecific and intraspecific. In the former case, indi-
viduals from two different species within the same genus are
interbred to produce a new species (e.g., the liger or buffalo),
sometimes to produce a plant or animal with some new and
useful physical characteristics, and sometimes just to prove that
the breed can be produced. In the latter case, two individuals
from two different subspecies of the same species are interbred
to improve the overall quality of the species. The inbreeding of
the maize plant over the centuries, as an example, has resulted in
a modern plant that looks and tastes entirely different from the
parent plant from which it originated, a small plant with cobs
only a few inches in length and eight rows of kernels (Plumer
2016). The very significant accomplishments of hybridization
can be appreciated today simply by looking at the 161 differ-
ent breeds of dogs recognized by the American Kennel Club,
the 40 different breeds of cats recognized by the Cat Fanciers
6 GMO Food

Association, or the more than two thousand varieties of roses

recognized by the American Rose Society (“Dog Breeds” 2020;
“CFA Breeds” 2020; Quest-Ritson and Brigid 2011).

The Birth of Genetics

The first real attempt to obtain a scientific explanation for the
process by which hybridization occurs dates to the work of the
Austrian monk Gregor Mendel between 1856 and 1863. In
one of the most famous set of experiments in the history of
science, Mendel patiently crossbred differing strains of peas
(Pisum sativum), carefully recording the properties of the prog-
eny of each cross for two or more generations of the plants. As
a one-time teacher of mathematics and physics, Mendel under-
stood the importance of collecting precise quantitative data
about the changes that occurred as a result of his crossbreed-
ing efforts. The laws of hybridization that now carry his name
illustrate this commitment to quantitative thinking. One such
law, for example, predicts that the ratio between two forms of a
trait (e.g., color) in a crossbreeding will always be 3:1, whereas
the ratio between two forms of two traits (e.g., color and size)
will always be 9:3:3:1 (Mendel 1865/1996).
Perhaps the most important conclusion Mendel was able
to draw from his research was actually a very simple one: The
physical traits of pea plants that are transmitted from parent to
offspring are apparently encoded in some type of unitary par-
ticle, to which Mendel gave the name Elemente. He was fully
able to describe how physical traits (which he called Merkmal),
such as color and size, were passed down from generation to
generation by imagining various ways in which these Elemente
combined with each other during the mating of female and
male plants.
In one of the great oddities of the history of science, Mendel’s
momentous discoveries were essentially lost for more than three
decades after he reported them to a small local group of scien-
tists, the Natural History Society of Brno (Naturforschenden
 Background and History 7

Vereins Brünn), on February 8 and March 8, 1865. Then, in

1900, those results were rediscovered almost simultaneously by
three researchers independently, the Dutch botanist Hugo de
Vries, the Austrian agronomist Erich von Tschermak, and the
German botanist Carl Correns. All three researchers immedi-
ately recognized that Mendel’s discoveries made possible for the
first time a new field of science that could be used to understand
and direct the hybridization of plants and animals. The dispute
that arose as to which of these three men should receive credit
for this rediscovery inspired many more biologists to seek out
Mendel’s original papers, and his work at last began to receive
the recognition that it had long deserved (Moore 2001). And
thus was born the new science of genetics.
The renaissance of Mendel’s work raised the question as to
what the unitary particle, Mendel’s Elemente, should be called.
De Vries had already adopted the notion of a unitary heredi-
tary factor, which he called the pangen, which he thought of as
being invisibly small but still larger than a chemical molecule
(Wayne 2019, 304). Finally in 1909, the Danish botanist Wil-
helm Johannsen suggested a name for the unitary particle by
which it is still known today, the gen (in Danish and German),
or gene (in English).

The Gene
By the first decade of the twentieth century, genetics had begun
to expand and grow. Some early discoveries about the transmis-
sion of hereditary traits were being reported. However, one of
the most basic questions in the new science remained unan-
swered: What is a “gene”? Most practitioners understood the
notion that hereditary traits were carried from one generation
to the next on or within some type of unitary particles, but
what precisely was that particle? It is true that many geneticists
did not worry too much as to what a “gene” was as long as
they could design experiments that played out successfully—
even if they didn’t know exactly what a gene looked like. Other
8 GMO Food

researchers recognized that discovering the physical and chemi-

cal nature of the gene was essential to develop a true and pro-
ductive science of genetics, and they embarked on a campaign
to discover what that unit really consisted of.
For most researchers, the primary candidate for the gene was
some kind of protein molecule. Proteins are complex chemical
substances that consist of various combinations of about two
dozen simpler molecules known as amino acids, joined to each
other in a variety of ways. Proteins are very large molecules,
consisting of hundreds or thousands of amino acids in virtu-
ally every imaginable combination. And that fact explains why
proteins were thought to be good candidates for genes: the sev-
eral different sizes, shapes, and compositions of proteins could
mean that they could code for an endless variety of physical and
biological traits, which is just what we see in the natural world.
A relatively small number of researchers, however, focused on
a different candidate molecule known as deoxyribonucleic acid
(DNA). Nucleic acids had been discovered in 1868 by German
chemist Friedrich Miescher, who originally called the material
nuclein, because he found it in the nuclei of cells. (Miescher’s
student, Richard Altmann, later suggested the term nucleic acid
for the material, the name by which it is known today.) Miescher
knew nothing about the chemical composition of nuclein or its
biological function. He considered the possibility that it might
be involved in the hereditary transmission of genetic traits but
later rejected that notion (Dahm 2008; Wolf 2003). In fact,
research on the chemical structure and function of nucleic acids
progressed very slowly and with few practical results for many
years. For example, it was not even until 1935 that the Rus-
sian chemist Andrei Nikolaevitch Belozersky was able to isolate
a pure sample of the material, making it possible for researchers
to proceed with an analysis of its structure and function.
Much of the early research on DNA produced findings that
appeared to be trivial and of questionable value at the time. For
example, in 1950, Austro-Hungarian-born American biochemist
Erwin Chargaff discovered that two of the nitrogen bases found
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of history of his past career, he came at length to the period of his
trial, which he summed up the narrative in the following words:
—“Now I am come to the great thing which troubleth my conscience
more than any other thing that I ever said or did in my life, and that
is, the setting abroad of writings contrary to the truth; which here now
I renounce and refuse as things written with my hand, contrary to the
truth which I thought in my heart, and writ for fear of death, and to
save my life if might be, and that is all such papers as I have written
or signed since my degradation, wherein I have written many things
untrue. And forasmuch as my hand offended in writing contrary to
my heart, my hand, when I come to the fire, shall be first burned.”
The penitent was as good as his word. As soon as the flames began
to arise, he thrust his right hand into them, and held it there till it was
consumed. His end resembled, in other respects, those of his fellows
in affliction.
During more than three years, these dreadful scenes continued to
be acted, till there had perished at the stake not fewer than two
hundred and ninety individuals, among whom were five bishops,
twenty-one clergymen, eight lay gentlemen, fifty-five women, and
four children. Elizabeth herself narrowly escaped the same fate,
inasmuch as Gardiner, though weary of the slaughter of minor
offenders, ventured, more than once, to hint to Mary that “to cut
down the leaves, while the root was permitted to flourish, was at
once discreditable and impolitic.”
After an uneasy reign of five years, and weighed down with a
broken heart—with a husband who loved her not, and a people who
hated her—Queen Mary died, in 1558, and was succeeded by
Elizabeth. Being a Protestant, Elizabeth had been looked upon with
hatred and suspicion by her gloomy sister, and was for a long period
kept in prison. Trained in the school of adversity, she had learned to
exercise great command over herself, and at the very outset of her
public career showed that skill and discretion in government for
which she was so much distinguished.
It is not my purpose now to detail the events of her reign, but only
to draw a portrait of her character. She understood the interests of
England, and pursued them with courage, energy and skill. She
belonged to a period when anything and everything was deemed fair
by politicians and statesmen. Elizabeth did not hesitate, therefore, to
employ deception, falsehood, and bad-faith, to accomplish her ends.
She, however, did more to lay the foundation of English greatness
than any other sovereign that has swayed the British sceptre.
As a woman, Elizabeth’s character was detestable. Being herself
handsome, she was still inordinately fond of admiration, and jealous
of those who might be rivals of her beauty. She caused Mary, queen
of Scotland, who had come to England and claimed her protection,
to be tried, unjustly condemned, and at last executed—a feeling of
hatred toward her, on account of her great personal beauty, being
one of the motives for this official murder.

Style of Dress in the reign of Elizabeth.

Among those upon whom Elizabeth bestowed her smiles, was the
handsome Earl of Essex. He was very popular, and was led by his
vanity to engage in some treasonable schemes. He was tried, and
condemned to be executed. He had a ring which the queen had
given him in some moment of good humor, saying that if he was ever
in trouble, he might send that ring to her, and she would protect him.
Essex, when in prison, the day of execution drawing nigh,
remembered his ring, and giving it to lady Nottingham, requested her
to bear it to the queen. This lady Nottingham promised to do, but she
deceived Essex, and kept the ring. He was therefore executed, and
Elizabeth, who expected her favorite to appeal to her mercy,
imagined, till after his death, that he was too proud to solicit it. At last
the countess of Nottingham was seized with a violent distemper. She
believed that it would prove fatal, and sending for the queen,
unburdened her oppressed conscience by confessing the artifice of
which she had been guilty. “I have not many hours to live,” continued
she, “and I pray your majesty to smooth my pillow, by giving me your
pardon!” The queen gazed at her for a few moments in silent horror.
She then seized her by the shoulder, shook her violently, and cried,
“God may pardon you, but I never can!” Elizabeth then burst from the
chamber; but the shock proved too much for a declining constitution.
She refused all food, lay on the floor day and night, and spoke only
in groans and sighs and inarticulate words. She was then advised by
the archbishop of Canterbury to fix her thoughts wholly upon God,
and made answer that she did so. It was the last sentence which she
uttered; for falling soon afterwards into a lethargic slumber, she
expired without a groan, on the 24th of March, 1603, in the
seventieth year of her age, and forty-fifth of her reign.
If Elizabeth governed her people well, she still exerted a bad
influence in many respects. Great extravagance in dress was the
prevailing foible of the day,—a foible in which the queen herself set
the example; for she is stated to have left, at her decease, upwards
of three thousand different robes, all of them fit for use, and all
occasionally worn. This is the more remarkable, as during the
preceding reign frugality seems to have been a characteristic of the
age. In those days, the yearly rent of a mansion in London, fit for the
occupation of a great officer of state, amounted to thirty shillings
sterling money: the halls of the nobility, as well as the floors of the
peasantry, were strewed with rushes; and even in considerable
towns there were few houses to which a chimney was attached, the
fires being kindled by the side of the wall, and the smoke permitted
to escape as it best could, through the windows. In general, the
people slept on straw pallets, and they used round logs of timber for
pillows, and had almost all their utensils and furniture made of wood.
 Peter Pilgrim’s Account of his Schoolmates.
No. 1.

I sit at my desk to record my recollections of my school-fellows.

Many years have now rolled away since those happy days of
childhood, when we gathered daily at the old faded school-door to
receive, each one, his little share of early instruction. Swiftly the
years have passed away since that golden period of time, and as I
now gaze with my dimmed vision through the dusty and cloudy glass
of time upon those departed scenes, I find that many of them are
blurred and indistinct in my memory—that many of them are well-
nigh blotted out forever from my remembrance. Yet will I try to revive
them from the dust and forgetfulness that time has cast over them,
even as one carefully removes the dust that has gathered over an
ancient picture, first bringing out to light one bright feature and then
another, till at length the whole sweet face, in all its bloom and
loveliness, is revealed to sight. The mind is much like an old lumber
garret in some ancient country house. Dust, and cobwebs, and
oblivion gather deeply upon its miscellaneous contents, and year
after year continues to add to the mixed assemblage. Old books and
old pictures, time-wrecked furniture, dismantled articles of
husbandry, and crippled instruments of housewifery, cumber the
place in admired confusion. Nothing is in its place, nothing can be
found when sought for and most wanted. Everything lies hidden and
forgotten, like the body of the sweet bride in the ballad, whose lost
figure rested undiscovered in the old baronial garret, through so
many long years after their living entombment. So the thoughts of
youth are laid away in the chambers of the mind and the hidden
nooks of the memory, there to rest, till haply some accidental
association of after years brings them forth to light and life.
 Sweet youth, happy childhood! the greenest spot of life, the only
verdant oasis on the desert of life! We never enough prize thy
happy-heartedness, thy warm affections, thy warm-springing
feelings, until their freshness and bloom have departed. Truly it is an
oasis in the desert—a spot all bright, and green, and blooming! As
the oasis springs up with its verdurous bloom, and its spicy grove
and palm-trees, lifting up their tufted branches to the heavens, and
the clear-flowing fountain pouring its limpid tide with light laugh and
merry song amid the sands of the waste, so does this happy period
of life rise up and contrast itself with the whole period of this work-
day existence. What are all the cankered cares that eat into the very
heart in after life, to that season of sunshine? What the cares of
riches and the toils of gain to the sauntering schoolboy? What the
dark revolutions that convulse the world and overthrow empires, to
him? What the rumors of lost navies and routed armies falling on his
ear? They tell to his heart no sad tale; they leave on his mind no
gloomy impression. He does not measure their magnitude or feel
their reality. The loss of a toy, the fading of a favorite flower, would
cause him more unhappiness; and even these regrets last but for a
moment, and the smile chases the tear from his eyelid ere it can fall.
What to him are ambition, and remorse, and avarice, and crime?—
those demons that will start up around him in later life, and beguile
his step, and strive to fill his mind with darkness. His ambition runs
not beyond the present hour, and he is satisfied and happy if he can
but lead in the boyish race, or bear away the prize in the youthful
task. If he fails, he does not lay up the defeat in his heart, and brood
and lament over it in useless sorrow. What is remorse to him who
has done nought to darken his mind by day, or scare away slumber
from his pillow at night? What is avarice to him who has never
sighed for the “yellow gold,” or longed after untold wealth? He has a
bright summer holiday for his own—and is he not wealthy? He can
roam among the green pastures, lose himself in the deep,
untravelled woods, ford the cool river, swim the clear lake, gather the
brightest flowers that grow on hill and valley, and pluck the sweetest
fruits and berries of the wild, with none to interrupt or question. Is he
not more happy in the free enjoyment of these, his daily rambles and
pleasures, than the anxious lord of all these acres? Does he not
enjoy with all his soul the sweet airs, and green woods, and gay
flowers of the spring, the shaded wood-paths of summer, the ripened
fruits and fading glories of autumn, and the merry sports of winter,
with all its sleighing-parties, skating frolics beneath the winter moon,
and the building and battles of the snow-heaped fortress? All these
are unalloyed delights, pouring into the youthful heart more true joy
than any hard-sought and expensive pleasure of afterlife can ever
afford.
Who can ever forget the joy that comes with the bright Saturday
afternoon in the country? The whole school is freed from the
thraldom of the bench and task, and each has to choose, among
many delights, how to employ the golden hours. One little party
decides for a game at ball: so the neat new bats are produced; the
well-knit and high-bounding balls are got ready; the slender wickets
are set up; the “sides” are carefully chosen, and each rival party
labors as zealously for the victory as ever the invincible “old guard”
and the gallant “Scotch Greys” toiled for the bloody prize on the
deadly plain of Waterloo. Some decide for “a race;” and soon the
ruddy cheeks glow with a ruddier bloom, as each panting combatant
flings himself, exhausted, on the high-growing grass by the goal.
Others content themselves with the more quiet allurements of the
top, the kite, the hoop, and the marble. High soars the painted kite,
far above the wood-tops and the village steeple, and round flies the
giddy hoop till the child that guides it has not breath or strength to
propel it further. And some get ready their fishing-gear, and sally
forth to the neighboring brook or pond, properly accoutred with rod
and basket. For many an hour do they continue to wade through the
shallow streamlet; they flounder through the black swamp; they
struggle through the tangled thicket, interlaced with all its twisted
roots and running vines; they drop in their hooks at each well-known
pool and eddy; and return home, when the twilight begins to gather
dimly over the landscape, and the shadows of the old trees lengthen
in the slanting sun, each one laden with his string of speckled or
silvery prizes.
Our own inclination usually led us away with the angling party. It
was then our chief and unalloyed pleasure, and served to sweeten
many a tedious task, and many an hour of scholastic drudgery. If at
any time we were degraded to the foot of the class, and our head
disgraced with that vile badge, “the foolscap,” we could console
ourself with the delightful reminiscences of the rod and line. If at any
time the dominie’s rod visited upon our poor back the deficiencies of
the head, that same head would be at work in pleasant thoughts of
the long rod and the angle, and thereby console the afflicted body for
the anguish it had caused it. If a neglected lesson occasioned a
temporary imprisonment in a dark room, our fancy would beguile the
dreary hours with the anticipated joy of the Saturday afternoon, and
the brimming basket of glittering fish. But our reminiscences of those
holidays are overcast by a gloomy cloud, which will throw a shadow
over many years to come, as it has done on many an hour that is
past and gone. The thought of the painful accident we now record,
will often obtrude itself upon the mind when its presence is least
welcome.
Charley, our earliest friend, was a noble, light-spirited little fellow,
with a thousand good qualities, and few bad ones. He seemed to
master the most difficult task as if by intuition, and while we were
slowly bungling over its first paragraph, he would run it nimbly
through to the end, and then lend a helping hand to extricate his
friend from the quagmires of learning. He was a sort of admirable
Chrichton, and gained and maintained the lead in all things. He was
not only the best scholar, but also the staunchest champion, the
fleetest runner, and the most adroit angler in the school. Somehow
or other, he seemed to exert a charmed influence over the prey, for
they would at times leap at his hook with avidity, while they turned up
their honorable noses at our own, as if they scorned to perish by any
other band than his.
One bright, Saturday afternoon in summer, we were together, as
usual, employed at the “angler’s quiet trade,” at the border of a
broad and deep river in the neighborhood, regardless of all things
but the glorious nibbles which were constantly twitching the buoys of
our lines beneath the surface. The prey was uncommonly plenty, and
we prolonged our sport hour after hour, till at length the evening
shadows, that crept over the waves, admonished us to depart
homeward. We were on the point of leaving, when, to my unutterable
agony, I heard a heart-rending cry, a plunge into the water, and poor
Charley was lost to me forever! The water was deep and rough,
there was no help at hand, and neither of us could swim. The agony
of terror condensed into that little moment cannot be conceived. It
seemed as if, were the sum of a whole life of wretchedness united in
one instant, it could not have occasioned more intense torment than
I then felt. I gazed on the darkened and turbulent waters as they
rolled along, and saw the supplicating agony of his upcast look, and
the convulsive motion of his limbs as he struggled with the
treacherous element, and, without considering the consequences of
the act, I plunged in, in the vain attempt to seize the arm that was
slowly sinking away from my sight; but it eluded my eager hand, and
his cry for help was choked by the angry waters forever. I had
retained my grasp on the low timbers on which we had stood, and to
this alone owed my own preservation. I immediately raised the
alarm, and search was speedily made with the light of lanterns, but
the lost body of poor Charley continued to slumber that night in the
waters. On the morrow it was discovered and conveyed away to its
last habitation, followed by a train of sorrowing schoolmates, but
none walked by the little coffin with so heavy a heart as myself.
But before I attempt any further description of the scholars and
their adventures, our good old teacher merits a brief notice. Methinks
I can still see his kind, affectionate face, and hear his mild voice
again, though the narrow house has long ago shut its iron door upon
his mortal remains. He was the perfection of human kindness and
gentleness, with a nature far too lenient and forbearing to rule the
wild spirits of a village school. He was a deep and thoroughly read
scholar, but, unfortunately, did not possess the tact to impart his
learning to his pupils. But the fault, after all, rather lay with them, for
if one desired to profit by his instructions, few persons had a more
extensive storehouse of lore from which to communicate to others.
He was an able classical scholar, and was well versed in many
modern languages. But most of his pupils cared more for their
amusements than for the sweet waters of learning, and were too full
of mischief to attend to his teachings. He was much too gentle to
apply the rod liberally, and we stood but little in awe of his presence.
During school hours, he would often become completely lost in his
abstruse studies, to the utter forgetfulness of the madcaps who were
contriving all manner of mischief around him. Many carried little
bows and arrows to the schoolroom, and the little shafts of mimic
warfare would sometimes fly in volleys over his very head, without
even disturbing his cogitations. Marbles would be rolled across the
floor, and papers of gunpowder would be cast into the fireplace,
whose explosion would scatter ashes, and fire, and smoke around.
The authors of these transgressions he seldom discovered, so that
they continued to carry on their idle pranks with impunity. It was no
uncommon matter for us to obtain leave from him for a short
absence, and then to hurry off with our fishing-gear for a day’s sport,
and no notice would he take of the absent delinquents.
I remember that there was a fine orchard of rare pears near the
schoolhouse, and against it we made many a foray, sacking the best
trees with unsparing hands. On one occasion, my friend Bill
accompanied me thither, eager to load his pockets with the ripe,
yellow fruit that swung so temptingly on the high branches. He
commenced the assault with a big stone, which he hurled with all his
strength against the thickest of the enemy; but, alas! its return to
earth proved nearly fatal to his scull, upon which it descended with
great effect, and left a scar upon it that has not disappeared even to
this day.
But I cannot better describe our master’s good temper, and the
estimation in which he was held even by the very rudest of our
number, than by recording his virtues in verse.
That good old man hath slept
In his grave this many a year,
And many a storm hath wept
O’er his dust the wintry tear;
And many a spring-time flower,
And many an autumn leaf,
Have bloomed and faded o’er him,
In their existence brief.
And though the teacher’s name
His grave-stone scarcely shows,
Yet freshly all his virtue
On memory’s tablet glows.
Nor will the winning sweetness,
And the softness of his heart,
In the sacred land of memory
For evermore depart!
No after life can darken
The light of early days,
For it leaves upon the plastic mind
A print that ne’er decays.

When the cracked and jangling school-bell,

In its little belfry swung
By the pale-faced gentle usher,
At early morning rung;
Then fast along the woodland,
From many a rural home,
Each sauntering, idle troop
Unto its call would come.
And glad were they to meet the smile
Of their old teacher’s face,
As up the well-worn aisle he walked
With grave and reverend pace.
No harsh and bitter voice had he,
Nor stern and scowling frown;
And seldom was the tingling rod
From its dusty shelf brought down.
But kind were all his chiding words,
Affectionate and mild—
He loved his rude and wayward charge
As parent loves its child.

The gloom that weighs the heart,

Life’s mourning and its pain;
The cankered thirst of gold,
And all the cares of gain—
Ambition, pomp, and pride,
 That soil the minds of men,
And fill their paths with stinging thorns,
Were strangers to us then.
We mourned not o’er the past,
Nor feared the coming morrow,
And for the golden present
Had little cause of sorrow;
But each one was as merry
As is the roving bee,
Or the sweetest bird that carols
Its songs upon the tree.
The memory of the old school-group
And the teacher, fills the heart,
And still survives when all things else
To oblivion depart.
I. M.
 Hunting Wild Animals in Africa.

It is remarkable that, while there is a general resemblance

between the animals throughout the globe, each of its grand
divisions has some species peculiar to itself. Thus, North America
has the bison, the musk ox, and the grizzly bear, and these are
found nowhere else. The lama, jaguar, tapir, and the anteater are
peculiar to South America. Africa has its hippopotamus, giraffe,
gnoo, and zebra. Asia has the chetah, royal tiger, nyl-ghau, yak, and
dromedary. New Holland has its kangaroos, platypus, black swan,
and cereopsis. Europe has a few peculiar species, but most of those
which are found there, are also met with in the northern portions of
Asia.
But while each division of the earth seems to afford something of
the animal kind that is at once peculiar and remarkable, it must be
admitted that Africa presents the most wonderful species. It
furnishes us with the giraffe, which is by far the tallest of animals; it
produces the larger species of elephant, which is the largest of
animals; and the African lion, being superior in strength and
fierceness to the Asiatic lion, is the most savage and formidable of
wild beasts.
But it is not on account of their remarkable qualities only that the
animals of Africa are a subject of interest. In that portion of the globe
there are vast plains which are almost uninhabited by man. These
afford abundant sustenance for numberless herds of antelopes, of
which there are many kinds; for droves of quaggas, zebras, wild
asses, ostriches, and other creatures; and here they are permitted to
multiply with little interruption. The lion, panther, and leopard are
almost their only enemies. These occasionally snatch a victim as he
comes to the pool for water, or passes a bush or thicket where the
enemy lies in ambush; but the number destroyed in this way is not
sufficient greatly to check the increase of wild animals upon the
plains of Africa. There are droves of antelopes stretching over the
plains as far as the eye can reach, and amounting to fifteen or
twenty thousand in number. It is not uncommon to see large
numbers of zebras, quaggas, and even ostriches, mingling in the
crowd as if they were of the same family.
A New England boy who takes his gun and goes into the woods
or fields, fancies that he has pretty good luck if he can bring home
half a dozen robins with two or three chip squirrels. If he kills a
partridge or a brace of woodcock, he stands very high in his own
estimation. I have myself roamed over the country for half a day, and
felt myself compensated with no larger game than this. But sporting
in Africa is quite a different matter.
Captain Harris, an Englishman, who travelled in the southern
parts of Africa a few years since, has given an interesting account of
his adventures there. The following extract presents one of the
scenes which he describes upon the river Meritsane, at a distance of
some five or six hundred miles north of the Cape of Good Hope.
“The reports of four savages of the Batlapi tribe, who joined us
yesterday, determined us to halt a day for the purpose of hunting.
Richardson and myself left the wagons at daybreak attended by
these men, and crossing the river, took a northwesterly direction
through a park of magnificent camelthorn trees, many of which were
groaning under the huge nests of the social grosbeak; whilst others
were decorated with green clusters of mistletoe, the bright scarlet
berries of which were highly ornamental.
“We soon perceived large herds of quaggas and brindled gnoos,
which continued to join each other, until the whole plain seemed
alive. The clatter of their hoofs was perfectly astounding, and I could
compare it to nothing but to the din of a tremendous charge of
cavalry, or the rushing of a mighty tempest. I could not estimate the
accumulated numbers at less than fifteen thousand; a great extent of
country being actually chequered black and white with their
congregated masses. As the panic caused by the report of our rifles
extended, clouds of dust hovered over them; and the long necks of
troops of ostriches were also to be seen, towering above the heads
of their less gigantic neighbors, and sailing past with astonishing
rapidity.
“Groups of purple sassaybys, and brilliant red and yellow
hartebeests, likewise lent their aid to complete the picture, which
must have been seen to be properly understood, and which beggars
all attempt at description. The savages kept in our wake, dexterously
despatching the wounded gnoos by a touch on the spine with the
point of an assagai, and instantly covering up the carcass with
bushes, to secure them from the voracity of the vultures, which hung
about us like specks in the firmament, and descended with the
velocity of lightning, as each discharge of our artillery gave token of
prey.

Hunting Wild Animals in Africa; Nests of the Sociable Grosbeak, or

Weaver, on the trees.
“As we proceeded, two strange figures were perceived standing
under the shade of a tree; these we instantly knew to be elands, the
savages at the same moment exclaiming with evident delight,
Impoofo, Impoofo; and pressing our horses to the utmost speed, we
found ourselves for the first time at the heels of the largest and most
beautiful species of the antelope tribe. Notwithstanding the unwieldy
shape of these animals, they had at first greatly exceeded the speed
of our jaded horses, but being pushed, they soon separated; their
sleek coats turned first blue and then white with froth; the foam fell
from their mouths and nostrils, and the perspiration from their sides.
Their pace gradually slackened, and with their full brilliant eyes
turned imploringly towards us, at the end of a mile, each was laid low
by a single ball. They were young bulls, measuring upwards of
seventeen hands at the shoulder.
“In size and shape, the body of the male eland resembles that of
a well-conditioned ox, not unfrequently attaining the height of
nineteen hands, and weighing two thousand pounds. The head is
strictly that of the antelope, light, graceful, and bony, with a pair of
magnificent straight horns, about two feet in length, spirally ringed,
and pointed backwards. A broad and deep dewlap, fringed with
brown hair, reaches to the knee. The color varies considerably with
the age, being dun in some, in others an ashy blue with a tinge of
ochre; and in many, also, sandy gray approaching to white. The flesh
is esteemed, by all classes in Africa, above that of any other animal;
in grain and color it resembles beef, but is better tasted, and more
delicate, possessing a pure game flavor, and the quantity of fat with
which it is interlarded is surprising, greatly exceeding that of any
other game quadruped with which I am acquainted. The female is
smaller and of slighter form, with less ponderous horns. The stoutest
of our savage attendants could with difficulty transport the head of
the eland to the wagons.”
After describing his meeting three hundred elephants in a drove,
and seeing gnoos and quaggas by tens of thousands, Captain Harris
proceeds to give the following account of hunting the giraffe or
cameleopard:
“Many days had now elapsed since we had even seen the
cameleopard—and then only in small numbers, and under the most
unfavorable circumstances. The blood coursed through my veins like
quicksilver, therefore, as, on the morning of the nineteenth, from the
back of Breslar, my most trusty steed, with a firm wooded plain
before me, I counted thirty-two of these animals, industriously
stretching their peacock necks to crop the tiny leaves which fluttered
above their heads, in a mimosa grove that beautified the scenery.
They were within a hundred yards of me, but I reserved my fire.
“Although I had taken the field expressly to look for giraffes, and
had put four of the Hottentots on horseback, all excepting Piet had
as usual slipped off unperceived in pursuit of a troop of koodoos. Our
stealthy approach was soon opposed by an ill-tempered rhinoceros,
which, with her ugly calf, stood directly in the path; and the twinkling
of her bright little eyes, accompanied by a restless rolling of the
body, giving earnest of her intention to charge, I directed Piet to
salute her with a broadside, at the same moment putting spurs to my
horse. At the report of the gun, and the sudden clattering of hoofs,
away bounded the giraffes in grotesque confusion, clearing the
ground by a succession of frog-like hops, and soon leaving me far in
the rear. Twice were their towering forms concealed from view by a
park of trees, which we entered almost at the same instant; and
twice, on emerging from the labyrinth, did I perceive them tilting over
an eminence greatly in advance. A white turban, that I wore round
my hunting cap, being dragged off by a projecting bough, was
instantly attacked by three rhinoceroses; and looking over my
shoulder, I could see them long afterwards fagging themselves to
overtake me. In the course of five minutes, the giraffes arrived at a
small river, the deep sands of which receiving their long legs, their
flight was greatly retarded; and after floundering to the opposite side,
and scrambling to the top of the bank, I perceived that their race was
run.
 Hunting the Giraffe.
“Patting the steaming neck of my good steed, I urged him again to
his utmost, and instantly found myself by the side of the herd of
giraffes. The stately bull being readily distinguishable from the rest
by his dark chesnut robe and superior stature, I applied the muzzle
of my rifle behind his dappled shoulder, with the right hand, and drew
both triggers; but he still continued to shuffle along, and being afraid
of losing him, should I dismount, among the extensive mimosa
groves, with which the landscape was now obscured, I sat in my
saddle, loading and firing behind the elbow, and then placing myself
across his path, until, the tears trickling from his full, brilliant eye, his
lofty frame began to totter, and at the seventeenth discharge from
the deadly grooved bore, bowing his graceful head from the skies,
his proud form was prostrate in the dust.
“Never shall I forget the tingling excitement of that moment!
Alone, in the wild wood, I hurraed with bursting exultation, and
unsaddling my steed, sank exhausted beside the noble prize I had
won.
“When I leisurely contemplated the massive frame before me,
seeming as though it had been cast in a mould of brass, and
protected by a hide of an inch and a half in thickness, it was no
longer matter of astonishment that a bullet discharged from a
distance of eighty or ninety yards should have been attended with
little effect upon such amazing strength. The extreme height from the
crown of the elegantly moulded head to the hoof of this magnificent
animal, was eighteen feet; the whole being equally divided into neck,
body, and leg.
“Two hours were passed in completing a drawing; and Piet still
not making his appearance, I cut off the tail, which exceeded five
feet in length, and was by far the most estimable trophy I had
gained; but proceeding to saddle my horse, which I had left quietly
grazing by the side of a running brook, my chagrin may be
conceived, when I discovered that he had taken advantage of my
occupation to free himself from his halter and abscond.
“Being ten miles from the wagons, and in a perfectly strange
country, I felt convinced that the only chance of recovering my pet
was by following the trail, whilst doing which with infinite difficulty, the
ground scarcely deigning to receive a foot-print, I had the satisfaction
of meeting Piet and Mohanycom, who had fortunately seen and
recaptured the truant horse. Returning to the giraffe, we all feasted
heartily upon the flesh, which, although highly scented at this season
with the rank mokaala blossoms, was far from despicable; and after
losing our way in consequence of the twin-like resemblance of two
scarped hills, we regained the wagons after sunset.
“The rapidity with which giraffes, awkwardly formed as they are,
can move, is beyond all things surprising, our best horses being
unable to close with them under two miles. Their gallop is a
succession of jumping strides, the fore and hind leg on the same
side moving together instead of diagonally, as in most other
quadrupeds, the former being kept close together, and the latter so
wide apart, that, in riding by the animal’s side, the hoof may be seen
striking on the outside of the horse, momentarily threatening to
overthrow him. Their motion, altogether, reminded me rather of the
pitching of a ship, or rolling of a rocking-horse, than of anything
living; and the remarkable gait is rendered still more automaton-like
by the switching, at regular intervals, of the long black tail, which is
invariably curled above the back; and by the corresponding action of
the neck, swinging, as it does, like a pendulum, and literally
imparting to the animal the appearance of a piece of machinery in
motion. Naturally gentle, timid, and peaceable, the unfortunate
giraffe has no means of protecting itself but by kicking with its heels;
but even when hemmed into a corner, it seldom resorts to this mode
of defence.”