-^ The Tni^^ccl)' of Cixilisation 



behalf of the white tratlers who ecjuipped them for the 

 purpose. 



Thus disappeared the whitc'-tailed gnu {Couuoclurtes 

 gnu), the bontebok [Danmliscus pygcirous), the blesbok 

 {Danialiscus albif rous), the true quagga {luj/ins quagga), 

 the mountain zebra {lujinis zebra), the splendid roan 

 antelope {Hippotragus Icucoplunis), the Cape buffalo 

 {Bubalus cafjcr), the elejjhant, the so-called white rhino- 

 ceros {Rhinoceros sinius), the black rhinoceros {R. bi- 

 cornis), the giraffe, the hippopotamus, and the ostrich 

 — except tor a tew preserved indi\iduals in the case 

 of the first three ; completely in the case ot all the 

 others. The number ot animals still to be tound there 

 in the last third of the previous century was immense, 

 but it is hard to realise the dense crowds of them that 

 must have existed there a hundred years betore that. 

 And side by side with them from earliest times lived 

 the coloured races. Like the American Indians, they 

 levied their toll upon the animal kingdom without im- 

 pairing it. It was lelt to the reckless and purposeless 

 slaughtering indulged in by civilised man to achieve the 

 seemmgly impossible, and turn this thickly inhabited 

 region into a desert. 



To my mind there is a groundwork ot truth under- 

 lying the myth of a Paradise, in which the animal world 

 lived all together in harmony. Trustworthy observers 

 have told us that in the Arctic regions the sea-lions — 

 creatures of exceptional intelligence — and seals and rein- 

 deer and birds do not budge an inch on the approach 

 of men, and show no trace of tear. 1 his must have 



9 



