304 HUNTING FAVOURITES 



Love of offspring is another marked character- 

 istic of the bovine family. No cow, however young 

 she may be, will desert her calf, and if the youngster be 

 attacked, even by the most formidable beast of prey, 

 the mother will sell her life to save the youngster's. 

 What other animal, even proud man himself, could 

 do more ? 



But now I pass on from the too generally abused 

 treck oxen to the most popular and esteemed ser- 

 vants of all man's animal dependants — the horses ; 

 but these must not be expected to be found the 

 sleek, well-conditioned, well-groomed favourites that 

 the English eye is accustomed to rest upon at 

 home. 



For beauty and speed there unquestionably is no 

 horse that rivals the Arab and our own home-im- 

 proved breeds, but, for disregard of exposure, power 

 of enduring thirst and scantiness of food, I will back 

 the Cape horse against any of the equine family that 

 I have found in any part of the earth. About Cape- 

 town and the oldest settlements very pretty little 

 saddle and harness horses are to be seen, but the 

 true old stamp is not common until the Orange 

 River is crossed. Of course, this stock was brought 

 there by the original Boer seceders from British 

 rule, who made their exodus from the colony when 

 slavery was abolished by us. Thus, I am inclined 

 to believe that the Basuto, Transvaal, and Bechuana 

 Land bred horses are descended from a cross 



