198 THE WAPITI OF KANSU 



exception of a few herds in Somersetshire, the Lake 

 Country and Ireland, to the Higlilands of Scot- 

 land. 



In South Africa but a fraction remains of the 

 vast herds of game which roamed the high veldt 

 in the days of yore ; in the more unhealthy 

 central districts of the Dark Continent it still 

 abounds, whilst in British East Africa it is yet 

 possible to form an estimate of the picture which 

 Nature presents in a country favourable to the 

 increase of game when the hand of man is 

 absent as a destroying element. Whether such 

 will be the case in the near future is a question 

 which time alone can answer. Vast reserves 

 have hitherto preserved the game, yet during 

 the past few years sportsmen and sportswomen 

 have flocked there annually in greater numbers ; 

 and, however stringent the regulations, such a 

 slaughter as goes on season after season, with 

 but slight intermission, is bound to tell. 



In America the bison has long since departed 

 to the happy hunting grounds ; the pronghorn 

 antelope is rapidly following him ; and the wapiti, 

 most magnificent of all the deer tribe, is vanishing 

 with frightful rapidity. In large measure the 

 disgraceful destruction of this noble deer during 

 recent years is largely owing to the fictitious 

 value placed upon their canine teeth by — and 

 the designation is paradoxical to the point of 

 absurdity — the Benevolent Protective Order of 

 Elks. Wapiti, I may add, are universally mis- 

 called elk in the United States. It was certain 

 that the bison had to go, but that the wapiti, 

 which roam over steep hill-sides unsuited for any 



