84 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA 



which long confinement on the same farms threatened the 

 isolated herds, was averted. The facts that black wilde- 

 beest and other game have not for years been in so 

 thriving a condition as they are now, and that many 

 farmers of the Free State who had no buck on their 

 land before, now possess herds, speak for themselves.* 



The number of black wildebeest believed to exist in 

 1907 was considerably in excess of that before the war, 

 and if the present enlightened opinions continue to prevail 

 among South African landowners there is no reason to 

 have any fear of the species becoming extinct. Certainly 

 any such entire disappearance would be a serious calamity 

 to the zoological world, for undoubtedly there is no more 

 remarkable beast, either in appearance or manners, upon 

 the whole face of the globe than the white-tailed gnu. 

 His extraordinary antics and capers formed a constant 

 theme for anecdote among the early pioneers and hunters, 

 and his aspect impressed even the least imaginative of 

 them. Even in these latter days of widely spread 

 knowledge, he can still excite surprise when first beheld, 

 as is evidenced by the excited " copy " sent to his paper 

 by one of the smart young men dispatched to Portsmouth 

 to meet a regiment returning from South Africa after the 

 war. " A new animal," he wrote, " was brought home 

 by these gallant fellows the most extraordinary beast. 



* Mr. R. T. Coryndon paid a visit to the farm " Kameeldoorns " 

 (Orange Free State) in June 1911. He writes that on that and 

 the neighbouring farm " Langkuil " were 1800 black wilde- 

 beest, 6000 blesbuck, and about the same number of springbuck. 

 One morning there were, on a reserved part of " Langkuil," about 

 1500 wildebeest, 2000 blesbuck, and 1500 springbuck within a 

 mile of his cart, all on bare veld, the herds mixed together, feeding 

 and playing. " Langkuil " is the property of Mr. Jan Delpoort. 

 On such farms it is remarkable how the bucks, at the approach 

 of danger, at once make for the protected portion, and, having 

 reached it, cease to display further anxiety. 



