16 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS 



open woods a couple of hundred yards to the right of the 

 train. Again, still closer, four waterbuck cows, their big 

 ears thrown forward, stared at us without moving until 

 we had passed. Hartebeests were everywhere; one herd 

 was on the track, and when the engine whistled they bucked 

 and sprang with ungainly agility and galloped clear of the 

 danger. A long-tailed straw-colored monkey ran from one 

 tree to another. Huge black ostriches appeared from 

 time to time. Once a troop of impalla, close by the track, 

 took fright; and as the beautiful creatures fled we saw now 

 one and now another bound clear over the high bushes. A 

 herd of zebra clattered across a cutting of the line not a 

 hundred yards ahead of the train; the whistle hurried their 

 progress, but only for a moment, and as we passed they 

 were already turning round to gaze. The wild creatures 

 were in their sanctuary, and they knew it. Some of the 

 settlers have at times grumbled at this game reserve being 

 kept of such size; but surely it is one of the most valuable 

 possessions the country could have. The lack of water in 

 parts, the prevalence in other parts of diseases harmful to 

 both civilized man and domestic cattle, render this great 

 tract of country the home of all homes for the creatures of 

 the waste. The protection given these wild creatures is 

 genuine, not nominal; they are preserved, not for the 

 pleasure of the few, but for the good of all who choose to 

 see this strange and attractive spectacle; and from this nur- 

 sery and breeding-ground the overflow keeps up the stock 

 of game in the adjacent land, to the benefit of the settler 

 to whom the game gives fresh meat, and to the benefit of 

 the whole country because of the attraction it furnishes to 

 all who desire to visit a veritable happy hunting ground. 



