78 Men, Mines, and Animals in South Africa. 



the different varieties of game we had secured in 

 the day. In the morning, up before daybreak, 

 mounted on well-trained ponies, we chased the 

 springbok emerging from the cultivated land on to 

 the veldt, galloping as near to them as the fleet- 

 ness of our horses would permit, generally about 

 400 yards, dismounting, rapidly firing a snappy 

 chancey shot, then remounting and after them 

 again, getting, perhaps, two or three more shots, 

 and so on until the herd had galloped far away 

 out of range. This method of shooting deer 

 requires much habit and experience, and much 

 good fortune. Only two springbok rewarded our 

 efforts, neither of which, I must confess, fell to 

 my rifle. The chase, however, is in itself ex- 

 citing, the gallop across the veldt in the cool 

 morning air indescribably exhilarating, and the 

 effect of it is to make breakfast a widely different 

 and far more agreeable meal than one knows it to 

 be at home. After breakfast the shot guns are 

 resorted to, and likely places are hunted over by 

 pointers and setters, or beaten by " l)oys," after 

 the partridge, the koran, or the quail. In the 

 evening, thoroughly wearied out, the dinner table 

 and the camp fire are found to he real luxuries, 

 and nine o'clock would see us huddled up in our 

 bell tent, and sleeping that slumber which only 

 the satisfied sportsman knows. A description of 

 the bag may be of interest : four duck, fifty par- 

 tridge, four hares, 250 quail, eight koran, eleven 

 snipe, one dikkop, one wild turkey, one blue crane, 

 and two springbok. 



