556 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



Natal, in 1934, there were about 500 on the Umfolosi Reserve and 

 some 400 on the Hluhluwe Reserve. In the Transvaal, there were 

 in the Game Reserve in 1902 a little over a dozen individuals, but 

 in 1925 this number had increased in much the same degree "as 

 domestic cattle might be expected to do under reasonably favourable 

 conditions" and were then "well spread over much of the area in 

 the central parts of the Reserve, between the Sabi and Crocodile 

 Rivers" (Ann. Rept. Transvaal Game Res., 1925). By 1933 this 

 herd was estimated at "close on 800." 



South-West Africa is too arid to support buffaloes over much 

 of its extent, nevertheless they are present along the river valleys 

 of the northern and northwestern parts, as in the eastern and cen- 

 tral Caprivi near the Maschi and on the lower Okavango. In times 

 of low water they may cross over occasionally from the Angola 

 side of the Okavango River. In Angola there are some numbers 

 also along the Kwando and on the Cunene, while throughout the 

 district of Benguela (lat. 12 south) they are reported in large 

 numbers, "right up to the Congo" as well as along the southern 

 border of the Congo basin, between "the Kasai on the west and 

 the Lualaba on the east," but are "completely wiped out in certain 

 regions" as the Haut Katanga and southern Bukama. ... In 

 one of the regions where it was most abundant the region of 

 Ankoro commercial hunting has destroyed enormous quantities. 

 The construction of the [railroad] from Bukama to the limit of 

 Kasai was also the cause of regrettable massacres. In 1935 the 

 native hunters employed by the coffee plantations of Katompe 

 killed about 400 buffaloes. Each year the brush fires destroy entire 

 troops, and the native hunters give them no respite. In and about 

 the zones of stock raising, the buffaloes have been systematically 

 exterminated. If it is desired to save the species" the following 

 measures are urgent: (1) strict bag limits; (2) prohibition of com- 

 mercial hunting; (3) prohibition of the employment by Europeans 

 of native hunters for provisioning their personnel; (4) total pro- 

 tection in certain zones (A. J. Jobaert, in litt. 1936) . 



While thus the species as a whole is in no immediate danger, it 

 becomes clear that its reduction is certain in the areas of settlement, 

 whereas in agricultural regions it will more slowly be reduced, either 

 through hunting for food or for sport by Europeans. In reserves 

 its numbers regularly increase and may from time to time need 

 thinning as the carrying capacity of the range is approached or 

 the proportionate representation that appears desirable is attained. 

 As a game animal, the buffalo is among the most dangerous and 

 at times will even attack without apparent provocation, so that its 

 very nature confers on it a certain immunity, while at the same 



