306 THE WILDERNESS AND JUNGLE 



The causes that have led to the total dis- 

 appearance of some wild animals, and to the 

 serious dwindling in the numbers of others, 

 within the last hundred years are many and 

 various. The sportsman is only one of them, 

 and in the opinion of those best qualified to 

 judge he is not even the greatest offender. So 

 far as Africa goes and it is with Africa that 

 we are chiefly concerned in this glimpse at the 

 passing of the wild ivory-hunters, native and 

 European, doomed the African elephant and 

 incidentally shot antelopes wholesale to feed 

 their camp. I have a very interesting letter on 

 this subject from Major Stevenson-Hamilton, 

 Warden of the Transvaal Game Reserve, in 

 which he says : 



" Personally, I consider that purely sporting 

 expeditions make but little permanent differ- 

 ence to the status of the big game. British 

 East Africa, at present overrun by tourist- 

 sportsmen, many of whom are but little con- 

 versant with the ethics of this kind of hunting, 

 perhaps forms an exception. We cannot over- 

 look the dreadful tales of destruction of the most 

 wanton kind, wrought by individuals who, from 

 their position, might have been expected to 

 know better, but, after all, these are isolated 

 and may be regarded as exceptional. 



"Two factors, I think, conduce to extermina- 

 tion. The rest may be taken as merely sub- 

 sidiary. 



