PKEFACE 



These sketches of sport and natural history in 

 South Africa necessarily refer to only a portion of 

 the wonderful fauna and avi-fauna of the country. 

 Two or three stout volumes would be required to 

 deal fairly with the rich store of zoological life still 

 left to the various territories south of the Zambesi. 

 I can only claim that those subjects upon which I 

 have written are dealt with pretty thoroughly, and 

 that the chapters on sport are true pictures of life 

 in the wilderness. 



It will be said, possibly, that much of the latter 

 portion of this book is a mere Jeremiad — a lament 

 upon the gradual disappearance of the great game 

 of a country originally far more richly endowed with 

 animal life than any other part of the world. But 

 my pages merely reflect the sentiments of any true 

 lover of nature who has actual knowledge of South 

 Africa, and has followed the history of the extermin- 

 ation of its wild life during the present century. 



