336 Great and Small Game of Africa 



humble opinion, nothing like the same thing as shooting in open country, 

 and the wildness and freedom of the pursuit — features which constitute the 

 very essence of sport — are necessarily much curtailed. In Cape Colony, 

 however, if the sportsman cares to put up with the rough life among the 

 primitive Trek-Boers of Bushmanland, the lack of water, and general aridity 

 and monotony of the country, he can still command plenty of good spring- 

 buck shooting in the wild north-west, towards the Orange River ; and there, 

 when the periodical trek or migration is going on, thousands of buck are stdl 

 annually slain with no great trouble by the Boers of that region. The pre- 

 servation of springbuck in the more settled parts of the colony has, during the 

 last fifteen years, been very successful among many Karroo farmers, and there 

 are now probably more of these antelopes to be found south of the Orange 

 River than there were twenty years ago. In the Transvaal and Orange Free 

 State springbuck were, upon the open plains, extremely plentiful, though 

 probably never so inordinately abundant as in the Cape Colony. At all 

 events one has never heard of the enormous migrations of springbucks in 

 these territories such as obtained in Cape Colony. The Dutch farmers have, 

 however, immensely thinned down even the innumerable springbuck, and, as 

 a rule, herds of moderate size are now only to be found in the Free State and 

 Transvaal upon enclosed farms. These are practically preserved, and it may 

 be said that in the settled portions of the two Dutch republics where game 

 is not now preserved, it is usually non-existent. In British Bechuanaland 

 springbuck were no great while since to be found in plenty upon the high 

 grass plains near the western border of the Transvaal. Since Sir Charles 

 Warren's expedition in 1884-85, they have, however, practically vanished 

 from the eastern part of this country. To the westward, in what may be 

 called the southern portion of the Kalahari, the springbuck may, however, 

 be found in moderate numbers. In Great Namaqualand, now part of 

 the German sphere of influence, large numbers of these antelopes still 

 abound. The Hottentot hunters and pastoralists who inhabit that region 



