60 SOUTH AFRICAN GAME COUNTRY 60 YEARS AGO. 



" Dr. Smith 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 100 and 150 

 rhinoceri, which belonged to three species. The same day 

 he saw several herds of giraffes amounting altogether to near 

 a hundred, and that though no elephants were observed, 

 yet they are found in that district. 



" At the distance of little more than one hour's march from 

 the camp on the previous night, his party actually killed, at 

 one spot, 8 hippopotami, and saw many more. 



" Dr. Smith describes the country passed through that day 

 as being thinly covered with grass, and bushes about 4 feet 

 high, and still more thinly with mimosa trees. 



" The waggons were not prevented travelling in a nearly 

 straight line." * 



The 24th parallel of latitude runs through the northern 

 part of what is at present the Transvaal Republic, 

 which exactly answers to this description of country. 

 This open bush region runs from the neighbourhood 

 of Pretoria northwards ; and Lat. 24 S., then crosses 

 the Limpopo, and runs along the course of the " Oli- 

 fant's" (i.e., Elephant's) River, for a considerable 

 distance. This river is very beautiful and runs through 

 wild and romantic gorges, and was celebrated in com- 

 paratively recent times as a great g-ame country: at 

 one time the whole of this region swarmed with 

 elephants and other heavy game animals. 



Not to go too far back into what might be termed 

 ancient history, the remainder of these sketches of 

 great herds of game have been restricted to instances 

 within the last 50 or 60 years but as will be observed 

 the majority are of quite modern date. 



* A Naturalist's Voyage round the World in H.M.S. "Beagle, " 

 1833 to 1836, by Charles Darwin, Edit, of 1879, p. 86. 



