Their other wild animals are the lion, the leopard, the civet cat, the small wolf, the fox, the wild dog, that hunts the antelope; the elephant, which is not common, and of which they make no use; the crocodile, the hippopotamus, which is often killed on the banks of the river that runs from the Neel Shem, (the Nile of Egypt) to the Desart of Bilma; and a large and singular animal, which is distinguished by the name of Zarapah, and which is described as resembling the camel in its head and body, as having a long and slender neck like the ostrich, as being much taller at the shoulders than the haunches, and as defended by so tough a skin, as to furnish the natives with shields that no arrow or javelin can pierce.[18] Bornou, like other countries that approach the Equinoctial, is much infested with different kinds of dangerous or disgusting reptiles, especially snakes and scorpions, centipedes and toads. Of its _beasts of burthen_ the variety is as ample as the numbers are abundant; for the camel, the horse, the ass, and the mule, are common in the empire. The dog, with which the inhabitants pursue their game, appears to be their only _domestic_ animal. In the mountains of Tibesti, and perhaps in other parts of the empire, the herdsmen, probably for the sake of a more easy change of pasture, prefer a residence in tents to stationary dwellings; and those, it seems, are not manufactured, like the tents of the Zahara, from the camel’s hair; but are composed of the hides of cows, a more durable and impervious covering. Through all the empire of Bornou the same mode of _building_, and with the difference of a greater or a smaller scale, the same form in the plan of the houses universally prevails.—Four walls, inclosing a square, are erected; within those walls, and parallel to them, four other walls are also built: the ground between the walls is then divided into different apartments, and is covered with a roof. Thus the space within the interior walls determines the size of the court; the space between the walls determines the width of the apartments; and the height of the walls determines the height of the rooms. In a large house the rooms are each about twenty feet in length, eleven feet in height, and as many in width. On the outside of the house, a second square or large yard, surrounded by a wall, is usually provided for the inclosure and protection of the cattle.[19]