THE DECADENCE OF GREAT GAME 295 



work? At the same time one can hardly blame 

 the black hunter for slaying the game of his country. 

 It is a mere natural result of contact with the white 

 man, and of the introduction of firearms. 



Gordon Gumming began his hunting in 1843 in 

 the northern part of Gape Colony. At that time 

 the game still swarmed over the parched karroo 

 plains. Quagga, wildebeest, hartebeest, and spring- 

 bok fell in numbers to his rifle. In the deserts 

 south of the Orange River — now sheep and goat 

 walks in the Hope Town division of the Golony — 

 he enjoyed magnificent sport with the gemsbok 

 [Pryx capcnsis) which then abounded there. In 

 those days the " trek-bokken," or migration of spring- 

 boks, was common in the north of Gape Golony. 

 Gordon Gumming witnessed one of these migrations. 

 ** I beheld the plains," he tells us, " and even the 

 hill-sides which stretched away on every side of 

 me, thickly covered, not with herds, but with one 

 vast mass of springboks; as far as the eye could 

 strain the landscape was alive with them, until they 

 softened down into a dim red mass of living crea- 

 tures." This " trek-bokken," Gumming estimated 

 at some hundreds of thousands. On speaking to an 

 old Boer about it, he remarked that " it was a very 

 fair ' trek-bokken ' ; but," he added, '' you this morn- 

 ing beheld only one flat covered with springboks. 

 I give you my word that I have ridden a long 



