THE DECADENCE OF GKEAT GAME 297 



however, and runs are fenced in, the springbok will 

 probably become semi-domesticated, or disappear 

 like the rest of the game. 



In the dry uninhabited regions of Bushmanland 

 the springbok will doubtless survive to adorn the 

 veldt for a good many years to come. Last year 

 (1896) a greater " trek-bokken " than had been 

 known for many years took place there. 



Gordon Gumming gradually pushed his way north 

 of the Orange River, enjoying the most extra- 

 ordinary sport, and shooting incredible quantities of 

 game. He shot all his elephants in the Bakwena 

 and Bamangwato country, never needing to go 

 further north than Letloche, not very far from 

 Shoshong — Khama's old town. There are old men 

 yet alive among the Bakwena and Bamangwato 

 (among the latter is the chief Khama himself) who 

 hunted with Gumming in those days, and re- 

 member his exploits perfectly well. Khama himself 

 has proved an apt pupil, and no better or braver 

 native sportsman has ever gone into the hunting 

 veldt. 



It was the fashion at one time to decry this great 

 hunter's feats as purely apocryphal. This is an 

 entire mistake. That Gumming did actually slay 

 the immense numbers and varieties of great game 

 mentioned in his book is vouched for by Living- 

 stone himself in his Missionary Travels in Boitth 



