HOW WILD ANIMALS ARE CAUGHT 93 
before been struck by the great difficulties to which the lack 
of draught animals subjected the farmers. His present host 
had adopted a novel method of making good the deficiency. 
Seeing that domestic animals were impracticable, he proposed 
to catch the indigenous wild animals of the veldt and convert 
them into beasts of burden. Now the wild game of Rhodesia, 
though sadly diminished in numbers in the last fifty years, is 
stil] fairly abundant. If the herds are no longer to be num- 
bered in thousands, they may still be numbered in hundreds. 
Kudu, hartebeest, wildebeest, ostriches and eland antelopes 
are all plentifully distributed throughout the country ; and the 
Boer had selected the antelopes for breaking in as draught- 
animals. As Dr. Peters showed interest in his scheme, he 
took him to a neighbouring enclosure where half a dozen fine 
elands were confined. He explained to Dr. Peters that he 
hoped to be able to use them not only for ploughing, but also 
as carriage horses. The traveller asked him at what price he 
would value these antelopes when their training had been con- 
cluded. The Boer named a figure which, though certainly 
none too small, appeared to afford Peters some amusement. 
The latter produced from his pocket an English illustrated 
magazine with which he had beguiled the weary evenings for 
some days previously, and showed the Boer a number of pic- 
tures of Carl Hagenbeck’s Institute at Hamburg. “This 
man,” said he, “will give more for the animals than they 
are worth to you; why not sell them to him? ” The Boer 
adopted the suggestion on the spot and | suddenly received 
a telegram: “ Have sixteen eland antelopes. Offer them you 
so many thousand marks. Wire decision and take over in 
Rhodesia within six weeks.” I closed with the offer at once, 
and sent my traveller Johannsen to Rhodesia to fetch them 
home. Long delays often occur before animals can be trans- 
ported to their destination, but in the course of nine months 
he brought home not only the sixteen eland antelopes which 
I purchased from the Boer, but a number of others which he 
succeeded in catching by a device which he learnt from the 
