232 NATURE AND SPORT IN SOUTH AFRICA 



every day on their passage from one grazing ground 

 to another, a striking proof of the confidence they 

 had regained. Much of this part of South Bechuana- 

 land consists of open forest of giraffe-acacia — much 

 resembling an English deer-park — having spacious 

 glades here and there, and with the ground covered 

 everywhere with long hay-like grass. 



This is the very country for hartebeests. They 

 can enjoy shade and shelter during the cold winter 

 nights, when the thermometer often runs down in 

 May and June to ten degrees below the freezing 

 point, while grass is plentiful. 



They are seldom found in thick bush. In the 

 North Kalahari country we found them on big 

 open plains, where they could attentively scan all 

 comers. It is hard to say in which scenery the 

 gallant red hartebeests looked most attractive ; they 

 seemed equally appropriate to their surroundings, 

 whether viewed in thin forest or in the open, grazing 

 belly-deep in grass, their red bodies thrown into 

 strong relief against the dazzling glare of the yellow 

 plains. In the country twenty or thirty miles south 

 of the Botletli river we found them again in giraffe- 

 acacia forest, in veldt frequented by giraffe, gemsbok, 

 and occasionally koodoo. Here there was no source 

 of water supply, except in the above-named river, 

 to which neither hartebeest, giraffe, gemsbok, nor 

 koodoo ever resorted. Burchell's zebras and blue 



