CHAPTER V. 

 FLAT GAME AND SMALL GAME. 



THE high veldt of the Free State and the Transvaal 

 is a plateau consisting of wide, grassy, treeless plains. 

 During the wet or summer season they are luxuriantly 

 green and are capable of maintaining any quantity of 

 stock of all kinds, but when the rains cease the vegeta- 

 tion withers up, and the nightly frosts throughout the 

 winter completely destroy all sustenance for stock. 



At this time of year the cattle and sheep farmers 

 generally drive away their herds and flocks to lower 

 lying ground where the frosts are less severe, and the 

 grass, kept alive by the nightly fall of dew, manages to 

 retain some vitality throughout the winter season. 

 With the return of spring the farmers go back to the 

 high veldt, for during the rainy season the high veldt is 

 healthier for stock than the low land. At one time 

 immense herds of game wandered over these plains. 

 They too were migratory, and shifted their quarters with 

 the changing seasons. Their numbers were simply 

 incredible. When the seasons arrived for changing 

 their locality, they would assemble in enormous troops 

 and move across country, devouring all vegetation in 

 their path. It is difficult to make computation of great 

 multitudes, but I am quite sure I have at one time seen 

 50,000 head of game on the move. As far as the eye 

 could see on the horizon they were visible against the 



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