38 THE SOCIETY FOE THE PEESEEVATION OF 



' On our return journey we always saw the fresh tracks of a 

 runner preceding us on the path and, as a consequence, when we 

 arrived at a village we usually found everything apparently w 

 perfect order. 



' Guns and Ammunition. 



' I have no doubt that among the isolated kraals scattered 

 through the Reserve almost every native possesses a gun and 

 ammunition ; and this does not point in any way to the firearms 

 not having been properly collected by the authorities, for the 

 contiguity of Portuguese territory, where the natives are nearly 

 all armed, makes the purchase of new firearms quite easy. Even 

 in the Sabi Eeserve, were it not for the presence of authority, the 

 natives would soon re-arm themselves. 



' Destruction of Game. 

 ' I was impressed by the number of skins belonging to antelope 

 calves cut from their dead mothers, which I saw in the kraals, 

 and by the immense extent and the artistic nature of the snaring 

 of birds and buck which went on. In one village I saw pieces ot 

 skin of a zebra, a sassaby and a watorbuck, all killed within a 

 week or ten days. 



' White Men Passing Through. 



' The only white men who have passed through the Eeserve 

 up to date are Sardilli, a trader and ivory-hunter, and two hunting- 

 parties of Boers en route to the Manitsi Eiver, between Rhodesia 

 and Portuguese East Africa. These latter, whose tracks I followed, 

 shot a wildebeeste and duiker about six miles within the Eeserve 

 before crossing into Portuguese territory, but the boundary is 

 somewhat indefinite thereabouts. There would, in fact, be little 

 temptation for white hunters to visit the Eeserve in its present) 

 condition. I consider that it will take ten years of careful nursing 

 before a respectable head of game can be shown. 



' Points in Favour of tiimjioitsi Reserve. 



' This Eeserve has many points in its favour. Much of it, being 

 swampy and of an alluvial nature, is never likely to be run after 

 by fortune-hunters ; and it is so far away from the beaten tracks 

 that the game should have a permanent refuge there in years to 

 come against the inroads of civilisation. Owing also to there 

 being absolutely no white inhabitants within many miles of it, its 

 protection will be a comparatively easy and inexpensive matter 

 once the not very difficult task of putting a curb on the native 

 depredations is completed 



' Isolated Native Villages. 



' I would certainly advocate the removal of certain of the 

 isolated kraals, which are nothing but hunting-camps, to the 

 larger rivers, where there is a larger population and no game. 



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