THE ANTELOPES AND GAZELLES 185 



in a way, on the rare occasions I speak of, they 

 seem as if they must drink, and away they trek. 

 Not many years ago they moved westward, heading 

 direct for the Atlantic, on the seaboard of Little 

 Namaqualand. They trekked straight for the sea, 

 entered the salt water, drank, and perished in tens of 

 thousands. Their dead bodies strewed the sea-shore 

 in one continuous line for a distance of thirty 

 miles, and the stench of their decaying legions was 

 so great that it drove the wandering Boers, who 

 were outspanned near the coast, far inland. Mr. 

 W. C. Scully, formerly Civil Commissioner for 

 Namaqualand, and still an official of the Cape Govern- 

 ment, is my authority for this extraordinary state- 

 ment, which is not, as it sounds, fiction, but real and 

 sober fact. 1 To reach Bushmanland, which is now 

 the great stronghold of the springbuck, the best route 

 would be to go by sea from Cape Town to Port 

 Nolloth, a voyage of about thirty hours, whence the 

 springbuck country is easily reached. The land 

 journey by rail to Fraserburg Road, thence to 

 Calvinia and the north, is a long and troublesome 

 one. 2 



Plenty of springbuck are found in other parts of 

 Cape Colony, but not always in the state of complete 

 feral freedom of the wilds of Bushmanland. Often 

 they are enclosed by the wire fencing which now 

 surrounds the pastoral farmers' runs. Still, even on 



1 Bee-ween Sun and Sand. W. C. Scully. Methuen and Co., 1898. 



2 It is to be noted that a large tract of land in this region (Bushmanland), 

 extending to some 260,000 acres, has been proclaimed as a game reserve, in which 

 it is unlawful to kill, hunt, capture or pursue any species of game whatever. 



