n8 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA 



The little weaknesses mentioned above are, however, 

 but the result of Alfonso's early life and upbringing. Dis- 

 covered standing under a tree in Portuguese East Africa, 

 a lonely little waif of some four weeks old, he has been 

 a spoiled child from the beginning, knowing no fear, and 

 I regret to say, very little discipline. More timid and, 

 perhaps for that reason, less personally attractive, his 

 mate shows all the qualities most desirable in the domestic 

 animal. She does not share her companion's tendencies 

 towards exploration and experiment, even appears to 

 view his excursions in those directions with grave wifely 

 disapproval. In fact, she attempts neither to steal 

 cabbages, nor to jump gates, and I am inclined to fancy 

 that, with advancing years and increasing stoutness, 

 Alfonso himself will eschew these youthful frolics. 



To one who has had close and intimate experience of 

 these beautiful and intelligent creatures, the spirit which 

 has prompted and still prompts their ruthless destruction, 

 seems little less than devilish. 



Elands once abounded over the greater part of South 

 Africa between the Cape and the Zambezi, but at the 

 present day are represented in Natal by only a few 

 individuals, protected among the Drakensberg Mountains 

 on the western border. In the waterless Kalahari they 

 may still be met with in considerable numbers, their 

 relative independence of water enabling them to wander 

 whither few hunters, except the wandering bushmen, 

 can easily follow. From the Transvaal the last few 

 disappeared shortly before the outbreak of the late war. 

 The rinderpest had killed off most of those which had 

 survived until its appearance, and the white and native 

 hide and meat hunters quickly accounted for the few 

 individuals which the epidemic had spared. Since the 

 establishment of the Game Reserve a few have from time 



