128 ANIMAL LIFE IN AFRICA 



their numbers during the last six or seven years. There 

 seems to be some likelihood, therefore, that the secret 

 of the intense localization of the species lies in the presence 

 of some peculiar foodstuff, limited in quantity, but 

 necessary to the health of the individual animal, or else 

 in something connected with soil or water. If this is not 

 so why should inyalas in the past have been so numerous 

 on the east side of the low Lebombo Hills, and yet, so 

 far as can be ascertained, never have extended to the 

 west side, where the bush is, to all appearance, similar 

 in character, in so far as it contains the various leaves, 

 shrubs and fruits, which certainly form the greater part 

 of the inyala's food ? 



A good deal of inquiry and personal investigation, 

 however, has failed to reveal the precise factor which 

 keeps these animals confined to certain particular and 

 widely separated tracts of country and sections of bush. 

 The food consists principally of leaves and bean pods, 

 the fruit of the marula tree and of the " kaffir oranges," 

 after they have become rotted and broken up through 

 lying on the ground. Grass is also eaten when young 

 and of good quality. All the above, however, form the 

 food of the impala, as well as of many other kinds of 

 antelopes, and none of them are restricted solely to inyala 

 districts. There is that in the character of inyala bush 

 which somehow bestows on it a strong individuality. 

 It is not only densely thick, with tangled undergrowth, 

 and saplings growing close together, but, in addition, 

 has several features of its own, notably, a fleshy-looking 

 cactus of some three feet in height, from whose leaves 

 grow at right angles, long, straight and very sharp 

 spines, which obtrude themselves rudely to the notice of 

 the struggling wayfarer. There are other unfamiliar- 

 looking plants and leaves too, so that amid them, or 



