230 NATURE AND SPORT IN SOUTH AFRICA 



the road from Bamangwato to Tati. It is certainly 

 still to be found at this day not very far to the west 

 of the Serule. 



The hartebeest loves a flat grassy country, and is 

 to be found indifferently upon treeless grassy plains, 

 or in open park-like giraffe-acacia forests, in which 

 (as in so much of Western Bechuanaland and the 

 Kalahari) the long sweet grass is to be found. Like 

 other desert-bred animals frequenting these regions, 

 the hartebeest is capable of existing for long periods 

 without drinking. During the dry winter months it 

 is certain that this antelope, in many regions of the 

 interior, can never touch water. I have found it 

 during the season of African mid-winter in country 

 where it is quite certain no water was attainable, 

 and the Bechuana hunters with me and the Masarwa 

 Bushmen inhabiting those desert regions, assured me 

 positively that these hartebeests seldom or never 

 drank during that season. These animals, in com- 

 mon with many others, are exceedingly fond of the 

 salt-licks or pans so often found in South Africa. 

 At Kudunque, between Mosita and Morokweng, 

 British Bechuanaland, on the south-eastern side of 

 the Kalahari, I found a good deal of hartebeest, 

 gemsbok, and other spoor. Well-defined game-paths 

 made by hartebeests led to this place from the 

 direction of the Molopo to the north, and some 

 Dutchmen shooting at night at the brack-pan had 



