SPORT IN MOZAMBIQUE 



where vegetation is luxuriant, the country is covered 

 with thin scrub. The trees are mostly stunted, being 

 apparently unable to grow strongly in such arid soil. 

 I am speaking of the unfortunate trees that have 

 escaped being felled by the miners to be used in 

 supporting their galleries. 



So soon as we were settled in camp, we wandered 

 about the neighbourhood collecting insects, plants, 

 and birds. As for mammals, they are rare. What 

 remains of the larger game, decimated a few years ago 

 by rinderpest, has perished by the shots of the miners. 



There are only a few specimens of the smaller 

 varieties of antelope, which can move with rapidity, 

 and are very wary, while, owing to their size, they 

 are more easily hidden by the dense vegetation. The 

 first and commonest of these is the bushbuck. About 

 the size of a fallow-deer, the bushbuck is a graceful 

 animal. If one looks for it in the flat country, it is 

 to be found in the smaller forests where grasses grow 

 abundantly. If, however, it is sought for in moun- 

 tainous country, this animal is more likely to be met 

 with in ravines overgrown with the most fantastic 

 vegetation I have ever seen. There lianas, brambles, 

 and bindweed are so entangled as to form a network 

 which greatly impedes the hunter ; india-rubber 

 vines (Landolphia kirki) hang from the tops of the 

 gigantic trees, making grottoes of verdure where the 

 bushbuck likes to sleep during the heat of the day. 

 About four o'clock in the afternoon, in places where it 



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