1^ A NATURALIST IN THE TRANSVAAL 



animals are now rarely met, and then only in small 

 numbers. AM thin quite recent years great herds were 

 passed as one travelled through the country, and these 

 plains actually swarmed with Ruminants. The Rehbok 

 (Pelea capreolus), Steinbok (Tragulus rupeslris), Spring- 

 bok (Gazella euc/wre), Hartebeest (Alcclajtltus caama), 

 and Koodoo (Strepsiceros kudu) were generally seen 

 and could always be found, but now only a few of the 

 smaller " Buck ' reward the hunter's toil. It is the 

 scattered Boers who have thus altered this aspect of 

 nature ; they slaughtered the animals for their skins 

 when they found a small price could be obtained for 

 them, and in former days their dress, including boots, 

 were made of buckskin. A buckskin kaross kept them 

 warm or provided the substitute for a carpet, whilst the 

 same animals provided them with a good covering for 

 furniture. No animals could long withstand such per- 

 sistent slaughter, and to-day the lifeless veld bears wit- 

 ness to one of the Boer influences on nature *. I have 

 often heard old residents and sportsmen describe the 

 panorama of Antelopes once to be seen moving across 

 these scenes, which now are only vast solitudes. It is 

 difficult to estimate the amount of nature's modification 

 through man's influence. Even on these grassy plains, 

 where superficially plant-life looks so poor and uniform, 

 the extirpation of these vast herds of browsing animals 

 must have produced botanical changes and modifications 

 which only a local Darwin could have estimated. But 

 here the growth of trees or shrubs that might have pre- 

 viously been kept down by the ruminants is again frus- 

 trated by the periodical grass-fires of the Boers (to be 

 alluded to further on), and thus man again modifies the 

 appearance of nature. 



Time passes much more quickly during these long 

 coach journeys than would be expected ; there is a 

 freshness in the air and an absence of restraint that 



* Methuen, in 18-J8, describes Springboks migrating- in tens of thousands, 

 literally concealing the plains and devouring every preen herb, their ravages 

 exceeding those of the locust sAvarin (' Life iu the Wilderness,' p. 9). 



Methuen is speaking of the upper regions of the Colony, but the Transvaal 

 must have been equally undisturbed at that time. 



