XVI. INTRODUCTION 



exception to is the proposed total extinction of the herd. 

 Surely a few females and a young bull could do no barm, 

 especially after having had the wits scared out of them ! 



In tbe mountain regions of Cradock, Oudtsboorn, and 

 George, the Mountain Zebra is still to be found, and a 

 permit — fortunately now not easily obtainable — is required 

 to shoot or capture them. Probably not more than 400 

 are still left alive. 



On one or two farms in the Bredasdorp district of the 

 Cape Province, Bontebok still linger in a semi-domesti- 

 cated state, but were it not for the praiseworthy efforts 

 of the Albertyns and the Van der Byls, this pretty 

 Antelope would long since belong to the past, in company 

 with the true Bluebuck and the Quagga. 



In parts of the Orange Free State, especially in the 

 Winburg, Kroonstad, Hoopstad, and Boshof districts, 

 herds of Black Wildebeest, Blesbuck, and Springbuck 

 still roam tbe flats — but, alas ! not in the countless 

 numbers of Baldwin's and Gordon Cumming's days. 

 Even during the last eight or nine years their numbers 

 have sadly diminished, owing to wanton and indis- 

 criminate shooting for the markets ; happily this lament- 

 able state of affairs is being recognized, and attempts are 

 being made to remedy the evil, even at the eleventh hour. 

 In the Cape, Transvaal, and Natal, and even in Rhodesia, 

 Game Reserves exist in which our beautiful Antelope are 

 steadily increasing. Some farmers, too, are beginning to 

 realize what an asset game is to their farms, and do not 

 now ruthlessly mow down their Buck in hundreds for the 

 sake of the biltong and skins, as their predecessors did 

 fifteen or twenty years ago. 



There are, however, still some who allow butchers — 

 sportsmen they cannot be called — to shoot down every- 

 thing within their reach for a few pounds per annum for 



