GAME AND SPORT IN SOUTH AFRICA. 39 



the slaughter of semi-tame pheasants at hot corners, 

 or even of deer enclosed within wire fences, but 

 quite up to the mark aspired to by the real hard- 

 working sportsman of reasonably developed de- 

 structive instincts, and it would be hard to find a 

 better field than South Africa for the exertions of 

 such men if properly equipped and capable of 

 enjoying gipsy life in a splendid climate. For a 

 man fond of hunting with hounds, exclusive, I 

 mean, of the mere swelldom involved in the 

 " get-up," I can fancy no sport to surpass that which 

 could be obtained in South Africa with about five 

 couple of staunch hounds of good speed and ex- 

 ceptional staying powers ; a steinbuck or " duiker " 

 as the quarry, and I speak from the experience of 

 a few enjoyable runs of the kind in " auld lang 

 syne." 



In England it is indeed a very beautiful sight 

 to witness the meet of a pack of hounds of twenty 

 or more couple, but for the mere purpose of hunting, 

 many dogs are superfluous, and tend rather to riot 

 and the multiplication of checks than to successful 

 sport. Fashion in this respect is probably irre- 

 sistible, but that it is necessary to use such 

 exuberant power to kill a miserable little fox, or 



