xi NATIVE MOUNTED HUNTERS 207 



Even in the countries to the south and west of 

 the Zambesi river, though there the range of the 

 giraffe has been sadly curtailed since the time when 

 the emigrant Boers first crossed the Orange river 

 in 1836, these animals are far from being a vanished 

 species, or one which is on the verge of extermina- 

 tion. True, there are now no giraffes left in large 

 areas of country where thirty years ago they were 

 plentiful, but these animals are still to be found in 

 Western Matabeleland, throughout the greater part 

 of Khama's country, as well as in the Northern 

 Kalahari, and thence northwards to far within the 

 boundaries of the Portuguese province of Angola. 

 The whole of this vast extent of country is, like so 

 much of Northern Africa to the south of the Sahara 

 and Abyssinia, a semidesert, impossible of settle- 

 ment by Europeans ; for although it is covered for 

 the most part with trees of various kinds, or thorn 

 scrub varying in height from two or three to twelve 

 or fifteen feet, the soil is almost everywhere deep 

 soft sand, and for several months in the year there 

 is little or no surface water, except in the large 

 rivers, which are few in number and far apart. 

 Throughout the greater part of these arid, sun- 

 scorched wastes, giraffes are, I think, likely to hold 

 their own for a long time to come, if only some 

 check can be put upon the operations of the native 

 mounted hunters, belonging to the Bakwena, 

 Bamangwato, and Batauwana tribes, who are now 

 practically their only enemies. 



For the extermination of the giraffe in the Trans- 

 vaal, Bechwanaland, and the country immediately to 

 the north of the Limpopo, Europeans are entirely 

 responsible. The Boers killed most of them, of 

 course, because up to 1890 Boer hunters were 

 always in the proportion of at least ten to one to 

 white hunters of any other nationality. But, man 

 for man, English hunters were quite as destructive 



