126 ANIMAL FOOD RESOURCES OF DIFFERENT NATIONS. 



three dollars, and the trade in buffalo robes is always 

 brisk. Hence all the resources of civilisation are en- 

 listed in the cause of the almighty dollar against the 

 ■wild nature of the New World. A large party of hunters 

 with repeating rifles, each man killing from six to twelve 

 beasts from every herd they come across before it can 

 get beyond range, are calculated to thin the magnitude 

 of those herds rather rapidly ; and as the number of 

 hunters increases annually while the herds decrease, it 

 is an easy calculation to determine when the bottom of 

 the basket will be reached. 



There are a considerable variety of antelopes in South 

 Africa, and a very great number of species in every dis- 

 trict. The flesh of most is in universal esteem among 

 all the people. It is well flavoured when fat, and of a 

 delicate taste. It makes very fine venison when pro- 

 perly dressed, and the legs and shoulders of the anima 

 are much esteemed as a relish when dried down inta 

 "biltong," a most convenient and palatable article of diet^ 

 perfectly familiar to the colonists. In this form it can 

 be kept almost any length of time, and has frequently 

 been brought to England. It is extremely nourishing 

 and digestible, and can often be taken by individuals- 

 when other food is rejected by the stomach. 



The flesh of the gemsbok {Oryx Gazelld) of Africa, 

 ranks next to the eland, and at certain seasons of the- 

 year they are very fat. 



Sir Cornwallis Harris, speaking of the Eland, says : — 

 " By all classes in Africa its flesh is deservedly esteemed 

 over that of any other animal. Both in grain and colour- 

 it resembles beef, but is far better tasted and more deli- 

 cate, possessing a fine game flavour and exhibiting the 

 most tempting looking layers of fat and lean, the surpris- 

 ing quantity of the former ingredient with which it is 

 nterlarded, exceeding that of any other game quadru- 

 ped with which I am acquainted. The venison fairly 

 melts in the mouth, and as for the brisket, that is abso- 

 lutely a cut for a monarch. During the greater part of 

 our journey it was to the flesh of this goodly beast thab 



