﻿EDIT 
  OBI 
  AL 
  GLEANINGS. 
  157 
  

  

  The 
  heyday 
  of 
  the 
  hunters 
  lasted 
  for 
  fifty 
  years. 
  In 
  1836, 
  Captain 
  

   Harris 
  found 
  hundreds 
  of 
  Elephants 
  in 
  the 
  Magaliesberg 
  (close 
  to 
  

   Pretoria), 
  where 
  a 
  sterner 
  kind 
  of 
  hunting 
  has 
  lately 
  familiarized 
  us 
  

   with 
  those 
  pastures. 
  The 
  next 
  move 
  took 
  these 
  brave 
  wanderers 
  to 
  

   the 
  Zambesi, 
  and 
  far 
  to 
  the 
  west. 
  At 
  an 
  ever-increasing 
  rate 
  the 
  

   inroads 
  on 
  the 
  herds 
  continued, 
  until 
  what 
  drought 
  or 
  pestilence 
  or 
  

   native 
  persecution 
  had 
  never 
  effected, 
  the 
  modern 
  rifle 
  has 
  completed, 
  

   and 
  now 
  south 
  of 
  the 
  Zambesi 
  scarcely 
  a 
  single 
  herd 
  remains. 
  Only 
  

   a 
  few 
  miserable 
  hunted 
  remnants, 
  just 
  as 
  I 
  remember 
  in 
  1884 
  in 
  

   America, 
  the 
  last 
  solitary 
  wanderers 
  of 
  the 
  Bison 
  were 
  being 
  shot 
  down 
  

   by 
  cowboys, 
  their 
  very 
  rarity 
  making 
  them 
  ten 
  times 
  as 
  valuable 
  as 
  a 
  

   trophy. 
  One 
  slight 
  exception 
  must 
  be 
  mentioned. 
  Owing 
  to 
  the 
  fore- 
  

   sight 
  of 
  a 
  few 
  individuals, 
  a 
  small 
  sanctuary 
  was 
  established 
  in 
  the 
  

   Kynsna 
  Forest, 
  near 
  the 
  coast 
  in 
  Cape 
  Colony, 
  which 
  was 
  perhaps 
  the 
  

   forerunner 
  of 
  all 
  the 
  game-reserves 
  now 
  existing. 
  The 
  pity 
  of 
  it 
  is 
  

   that 
  such 
  an 
  experiment 
  was 
  not 
  repeated 
  in 
  many 
  a 
  fair 
  range 
  of 
  

   mountains 
  in 
  Mashonaland, 
  the 
  Orange 
  Kiver 
  State, 
  and 
  the 
  Transvaal. 
  

   There 
  were 
  not 
  wanting 
  among 
  the 
  Boer 
  farmers 
  enlightened 
  men 
  who 
  

   did 
  what 
  they 
  could 
  to 
  preserve 
  some 
  of 
  the 
  disappearing 
  species 
  of 
  

   Antelope 
  on 
  their 
  own 
  farms, 
  as, 
  for 
  instance, 
  the 
  White-tailed 
  Gnu. 
  

   It 
  is 
  to 
  be 
  feared 
  that 
  the 
  rough 
  work 
  which 
  accompanied 
  the 
  drives 
  of 
  

   De 
  "Wet 
  have 
  left 
  but 
  a 
  miserable 
  remnant, 
  even 
  if 
  this 
  species 
  is 
  not 
  

   entirely 
  extinguished. 
  I 
  rejoice 
  to 
  know 
  that 
  under 
  Lord 
  Milner's 
  

   enlightened 
  rule 
  several 
  reserves 
  have 
  now 
  been 
  established 
  in 
  those 
  

   States 
  and 
  in 
  Cape 
  Colony, 
  so 
  that 
  something 
  may 
  be 
  saved. 
  It 
  is 
  a 
  

   suggestive 
  fact 
  that 
  the 
  chief 
  Lobengula 
  had 
  a 
  reserve 
  for 
  Elephants, 
  

   in 
  which 
  it 
  was 
  death 
  for 
  anyone 
  to 
  hunt, 
  and 
  another 
  for 
  Hippo- 
  

   potamus. 
  When 
  that 
  chief 
  went 
  down 
  it 
  was 
  white 
  men 
  who 
  instantly 
  

   devoured 
  the 
  whole. 
  It 
  is 
  singular 
  that 
  this 
  savage 
  potentate 
  should 
  

   have 
  had 
  more 
  foresight 
  than 
  the 
  civilized 
  beings 
  who 
  ousted 
  him. 
  

  

  " 
  Unhappily 
  the 
  same 
  story 
  is 
  being 
  repeated 
  as 
  regards 
  Elephants 
  

   in 
  Central 
  Africa 
  ; 
  notably 
  in 
  the 
  upper 
  waters 
  of 
  the 
  Congo 
  the 
  de- 
  

   struction 
  proceeds 
  apace. 
  The 
  method 
  of 
  the 
  Belgian 
  is 
  to 
  squeeze 
  

   the 
  orange 
  dry 
  at 
  the 
  earliest 
  possible 
  moment. 
  But 
  everywhere 
  the 
  

   hand 
  of 
  man 
  is 
  against 
  the 
  Elephant. 
  From 
  their 
  wandering 
  habits 
  

   it 
  is 
  to 
  be 
  feared 
  these 
  animals 
  derive 
  but 
  little 
  protection 
  from 
  the 
  

   smaller 
  reserves. 
  The 
  International 
  Congress, 
  which 
  assembled 
  in 
  

   London 
  in 
  1898 
  to 
  consider 
  this 
  question, 
  agreed 
  upon 
  certain 
  recom- 
  

   mendations 
  to 
  their 
  respective 
  Governments, 
  but 
  these 
  appear 
  to 
  have 
  

   been 
  chiefly 
  honoured 
  in 
  the 
  breach 
  except 
  by 
  ourselves. 
  

  

  " 
  Coming 
  further 
  north, 
  I 
  have 
  known 
  of 
  one 
  Englishman 
  who 
  

   destroyed 
  thirty 
  of 
  the 
  small 
  remnant 
  of 
  Elephants 
  in 
  the 
  British 
  

  

  