The Springbuck 339 



The flesh of a well-fed springbuck furnishes, to my mind, the most 

 excellent venison to be found in South Africa, tender, possessed of a 

 delicate game flavour, and truly delicious ; the kidneys and liver are 

 tit-bits especially to be desired. While shooting in Ngamiland, we 

 preferred the venison of this animal, which we had in plenty, to any 

 other kind of game meat. It is even superior to eland, good though 

 that venison is, and better than the excellent flesh of a young and plump 

 giraffe cow. The springbuck is capable of adapting itself to very 

 different kinds of pasture. Upon the karroos of Cape Colony its food is 

 found in the parched, scrubby-looking vegetation which covers the plains 

 of that part of Africa. This dwarf, shrub-like vegetation is composed 

 mainly of the Composites and Portulacacea, upon which the sheep, goats, 

 and ostriches of the Cape farmers thrive so well. Barren-looking and 

 withered as it usually appears, except during the brief season of the 

 rains, there must of course be a good deal of nourishment in this kind 

 of pasture. North of the Orange River, in Griqualand West, Bechuana- 

 land, the Kalahari, the Transvaal, the Orange Free State, and Ngamiland, 

 the plains are usually clothed with long grass, and upon this the springbuck 

 in these territories finds its nourishment. 



Where water can be found there is no doubt that the springbuck 

 drinks occasionally. But that, like other desert antelopes, it can be and 

 is independent of water for long periods — even for months together — is, I 

 think, quite unquestionable. 



The speed of the springbuck is immense. For a short distance it 

 is probable that no other antelope in Africa can surpass it, when it really 

 lays itself out. It is probable, however, that the fleet blesbok is over 

 a distance the faster and the better staying antelope, and the tsessebe has, 

 of course, few if any peers. The springbuck is, unless well hit, extremely 

 tenacious of life, and upon three legs or with a bullet through the body 

 will succeed in making its escape. 



