THE TRUE QUAGGA. 



" Alas ! in the colony of the Cape of Storms, how have the 



wild sports dwindled from their former prosperity 



Before the strides of civilization, together with the rugged 

 aborigines, have receded also the scarcely more savage quad- 

 rupeds ; and saving certain diminutive antelopes, which will 

 hereafter be noticed as frequenting the sea coast, the spring- 

 bok now affords the only four-footed game that occurs in any 

 abundance." Sir W* Cornwallis Harris (1840). 



We have already seen, when considering the 

 white rhinoceros, how the advance of civilization 

 in South Africa resulted in a terrible diminution 

 of the numbers of the indigenous game animals : 

 the eloquent lament of Sir Cornwallis Harris but 

 foreshadowed a greater devastation, which has 

 continued almost to the present day. 



Happily at last there are indications that this 

 waste of life is being checked. 



In 1899 an International Conference for the pre- 

 servation of the African game animals was held in 

 London, and delegates representing the various 

 Powers now colonising Africa met to discuss the 

 best methods of procedure : the regulations then 

 drawn up have been published, and may be 

 studied by consulting the Parliamentary papers 

 for 1899. The British Government has declared 

 considerable areas of land in various parts of 

 the continent to be game reserves, and the 



