INTRODUCTORY 5 



after all, responsible for this change. It was not to 

 be expected that farmers, whether Dutch or British, 

 who wished to make a living and add to their wealth 

 by pastoral pursuits, agriculture, wine -farming, and 

 fruit - growing, would maintain, at the expense of 

 their flocks and herds and crops, the marvellous fauna 

 of the country in its virgin state. The settlers re- 

 quired the land, and the game had perforce to go. 

 Yet even now, in spite of the slaughter of the past 

 hundred years, there is still fair shooting on the 

 minor scale to be found in South Africa. Even 

 south of the Orange River, in the arid, desert region 

 of the north-west of Cape Colony, the fecund spring- 

 bok is to be found in hundreds of thousands. Here 

 the periodical Trek-Bokken, or migration, of these 

 beautiful antelopes, is to be observed, and thousands 

 of buck are shot annually by the primitive Trek-Boers 

 inhabiting that thinly settled region. 



Preservation has done something for Cape Colony, 

 and mountain zebra, the koodoo, gemsbok, hartebeest, 

 buffalo, and wild elephant are still to be found there ; 

 while small antelopes of various species are abundant 

 in many places. If in long-settled portions of South 

 Africa, where the Boers have been at work, since 

 1652, some amount of sport is still to be found, the 

 reader will not be surprised to learn that in savage 

 Africa, in those vast regions of the Dark Continent, 

 as yet untouched by civilisation, great game of all 

 kinds is abundant. Africa, it may be easily pre- 

 dicted, will not be shot out for many a long year to 

 come. In some countries a timely preservation is 



