62 BAHIA BLANCA. [CHAP, v. 



convey any accurate idea of degrees of comparative fertility ; but it 

 may be safely said that the amount of vegetation supported at any 

 one time * by Great Britain, exceeds, perhaps even tenfold, the quan- 

 tity on an equal area, in the interior parts of Southern Africa. The 

 fact that bullock-waggons can travel in any direction, excepting near 

 the coast, without more than occasionally half an hour's delay in 

 cutting down bushes, gives, perhaps, a more definite notion of the 

 scantiness of the vegetation. Now, if we look to the animals inhabit- 

 ing these wide plains, we shall find their numbers extraordinarily great, 

 and their bulk immense. We must enumerate the elephant, three 

 species of rhinoceros, and probably, according to Dr. Smith, two 

 others, the hippopotamus, the giraffe, the boss caffer as large as a 

 full-grown bull, and the elan but little less, two zebras, and the 

 quaccha, two gnus, and several antelopes even larger than these latter 

 animals. It may be supposed that although the species are numerous, 

 the individuals of each kind are few. By the kindness of Dr. Smith, 

 I am enabled to show that the case is very different. He informs me, 

 that in lat. 24, in one day's march with the bullock-waggons, he saw, 

 without wandering to any great distance on either side, between one 

 hundred and one hundred and fifty rhinoceroses, which belonged to 

 three species ; the same day he saw several herds of giraffes, 

 amounting together to nearly a hundred ; and that, although no ele- 

 phant was observed, yet they are found in this district. At the distance 

 of a little more than one hour's march from their place of encampment 

 on the previous night, his party actually killed at one spot eight 

 hippopotamuses, and saw many more. In this same river there were 

 likewise crocodiles. Of course it was a case quite extraordinary, to 

 see so many great animals crowded together, but it evidently proves 

 that they must exist in great numbers. Dr. Smith describes the country 

 passed through that day, as " being thinly covered with grass, and bushes 

 about four feet high, and still more thinly with mimosa-trees." The 

 waggons were not prevented travelling in a nearly straight line. 



Besides these large animals, every one the least acquainted with the 

 natural history of the Cape, has read of the herds of antelopes, which 

 can be compared only with the flocks of migratory birds. The numbers 

 indeed of the lion, panther, and hyaena, and the multitude of birds of 

 prey, plainly speak of the abundance of the smaller quadrupeds : one 

 evening seven lions were counted at the same time prowling round 

 Dr. Smith's encampment. As this able naturalist remarked to me, the 

 carnage each day in Southern Africa must indeed be terrific I I confess 

 it is truly surprising how such a number of animals can find support in 

 a country producing so little food. The larger quadrupeds no doubt 

 roam over wild tracts in search of it ; and their food chiefly consists of 

 underwood, which probably contains much nutriment in a small bulk. 

 Dr. Smith also informs me that the vegetation has a rapid growth ; no 

 sooner is a part consumed, than its place is supplied by a fresh stock. 

 There can be no doubt, however, that our ideas respecting the apparent 



* I mean by this to exclude the total amount, which may have been 

 successively produced and consumed during a given period. 



