152. Great and Small Game of Africa 



down, and, like the greyhound's, strongly indicative of speed and staying 

 power. 



In the good days, when heavy game of all kinds was plentiful in Cape 

 Colony, hartebeests abounded there, and were to be found ranging as 

 far as the southern shores of that territory. At the present day they are 

 only to be found, south of the Orange River in the parched deserts of the 

 Bushmanland country, in the far north-west of the old colonial limits. 

 Here a few troops are now and again to be encountered. In Natal the harte- 

 beest is now very rare, and is only to be seen here and there on certain farms, 

 where it is carefully protected. North of the Orange River this animal is, 

 of course, far scarcer than in Cornwallis Harris's time (1836-37), when, as 

 mentioned by that sportsman, it was to be found on the plains "in immense 

 herds." It may be doubted whether in the whole of the Orange Free 

 State any hartebeests are now to be found at all. In the Western and 

 Northern Transvaal, where they were once also abundant, they are now 

 extremely scarce. In Griqualand West, however, thanks to some measure 

 of protection, these animals are here and there to be found in the wilder 

 and remoter places. Bechuanaland and the eastern fringe of the Kalahari 

 have always been among the most favourite headquarters of the hartebeest. 

 Here, upon the wide grassy plains, alternating with pleasant stretches of 

 level, grassy, thinly afforested, park-like country, these antelopes were 

 exceedingly plentiful, and are still to be found, although, naturally, at the 

 present day in numbers far fewer than of old. Still, even in British 

 Bechuanaland, upon the eastern edge of the Lower Kalahari, fair troops of 

 these animals are now and again to be encountered. In Khama's great 

 country, and especially in the western portions of it, the deserts of the 

 North Kalahari, and about the plains and salt-pans of the Botletli River, 

 Ngamiland, hartebeests are still to be found in considerable numbers. 

 These regions, indeed, may now be considered their principal headquarters. 

 The range of the hartebeest in South Africa ends northwards in the region 



