94 ALAS ! FOR THE BIG GAME 



The true or mountain zebra the Hippotigris of 

 Roman writers has become very scarce from persecu- 

 tion. 



' Within thirty years it will probably have vanished, and 

 another noble form of animal life will be lost to us. ... 

 The zebra is invariably a picture of grace and beauty, a 

 perfect type of feral life.' 



The bontebok or pied antelope, one of the noblest 

 of African game, was described by Cornwallis Harris 

 in 1837 as swarming south of the Vaal River in such 

 immense herds that ' the road made by their incessant 

 tramp resembled so many well-travelled highways.' 

 Now the race is represented by a small number pre- 

 served by the families of Van Breda and Van der 

 Byl (their names merit honourable record), and even 

 these, it is feared, will scarcely survive into the 

 twentieth century, owing to the debilitating effect of 

 inbreeding. 1 



The white rhinoceros the largest terrestrial mammal 

 after the elephant, according to Mr. Bryden, who, 

 perhaps, excludes the hippopotamus as an amphibian 

 is in the last throes of extinction. Six specimens 

 were shot between the Black and White Umvolosi 

 rivers in 1894, and it is doubtful if any remain alive. 

 Fifty years ago Gordon Gumming and others used 

 to pot sixty or eighty in a season by night at the 

 drinking places. 



1 This was written before the outbreak of the late war, the effect of 

 which upon the wild animals of South Africa may be the subject of 

 apprehension, but not of calculation. 



