42 THE SOCIETY FOE THE PEESEEVATION OE 



Thus they offer plenty of opportunities to the rifle, nor does 

 the overthrow of one or two of their number at the first onset 

 appear to alarm them. The various troops are distinctly local 

 in their habits. A fairly large one, at first consisting of some 

 forty or fifty members, hunted a stretch of country fifteen miles 

 by ten, taking it in sections in pretty regular rotation as the game 

 kept moving before them, for some eighteen months after the 

 inception of the Eeserve, and could even be found with a fair 

 amount of certainty at regular intervals in certain favourite spots. 

 Persistent persecution, however, eventually caused them to leave 

 the district, and for six months hardly any were seen, nor were 

 any tracks visible. 



Game, especially the smaller species of antelope, have perhaps 

 no such dangerous and indefatigable enemies. Hunting in 

 bodies of any size from one or two upwards, they will noiselessly 

 steal, either in the cool of the evening or between grey dawn and 

 sunrise, upon some unsuspecting herd, and an interesting sight it 

 is to see them ; the members rambling along in an apparently 

 nonchalant way at a hound's jog, each with nose down and in 

 perfect silence, a silence which, by the way, is never broken 

 throughout the course of the chase. On coining on a fresh ' line 

 there is no increase of pace, but the leaders prick their great) 

 round ears and jump at intervals straight up and down to get it 

 possible a view over the tops of the long grass ; then, on getting 

 up to their game, the whole pack spreads out noiselessly so as to 

 encircle it as far as possible. When close enough, they dash 

 forward. Away in all directions fly the terrified antelope, while 

 their pursuers, splitting up singly or into small detachments as 

 their fancy dictates, ruthlessly pursue the unfortunate individuals 

 they have marked down. There is seldom any escape. Gifted 

 with extraordinary speed and immense endurance, the wild dog is 

 served on occasion as well by his nose, the reliability of which his 

 broad muzzle sufficiently indicates, as by his muscular limbs ; and 

 fortunate indeed is the creature which, once having formed his 

 quarry, can safely win out. The actual method of chase has been 

 sufficiently described by several writers. The pack leader spurts 

 up alongside the hunted animal, and, springing at the flanks or 

 quarters, tears away a mouthful of flesh, then, dropping back, he is 

 relieved by another and yet another of his companions, who repeat 

 the performance until 'exhaustion and loss of blood toll their tale 

 and bring the victim to the ground, when all rush like a pack of 

 hounds into their fox, and he is torn to pieces and devoured in an 

 incredibly short space of time. To show the rapidity with which 

 they carry out the ' breaking-up ' process, on one occasion the 

 native poiico at a certain picquet heard a duyker cry out close by- 

 Only pausing to get their spears from the hut, they ran to the 

 spot, hoping to secure some of the meat for themselves, but, 

 although between the time of the first alarm and of their reaching 

 the spot there could not have elapsed more than three minutes, 

 nothing whatever remained but a little blood and some pieces ol 



