NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 



it will cure rheumatism. The fat of the animal is 

 also greatly sought after by them as an ointment 

 for the treatment of the same disease. 



In Northern Africa the Caracal attains a greater 

 average size than those in South Africa, and is in 

 consequence recognised as a sub-species (Felis car- 

 acal berberorum). 



An adult male Caracal is as large as a Collie dog 

 or a rather small-sized leopard. It is long in the 

 legs, of comparatively slender build, uniform brick 

 red in colour, fur thick, ears sharp-pointed and tipped 

 with tufts of long black hairs. The largest speci- 

 men which I have so far seen was shot in the Addo 

 bush near Port Elizabeth in 1912. It measured 

 thirty-seven inches from nose to root of tail. 

 Length of the tail was twelve inches, and height 

 at the shoulder twenty and a half inches. 



In South Africa the Caracal occurs chiefly in the 

 Cape Province, both west and east, and the Kala- 

 hari, Bechuanaland, and German South-west Africa. 

 In the Orange Free State, Transvaal, and Rhodesia 

 it is less frequently met with, and in Natal it is 

 unknown. 



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