20 A Breath from the Veldt 



happens the herd have probably the best chance of it for the day, if a stalk is 

 in prospect. The animal, however, where not constantly persecuted, soon 

 becomes comparatively tame, though these denizens of the plains will not 

 permit so close an approach as the larger bucks of the forest-clad regions. Mr. 

 Bryden, whose description of the Kalahari and Botletle River country is by 

 far the best and most careful that has yet appeared, says in his charming Gun 

 and Camera in South Africa that even when springbuck hardly ever saw the face 

 of man, they could rarely be approached nearer than 200 yards, even under 

 cover of a horse that was made to feed slowly towards a troop. 



It is only during the extraordinary migrations, which take place at irregular 

 intervals amongst these bucks and the blessbucks, that anything like indifference 

 to danger is manifested by them. At such times the animals, crowded together, 

 move onward from one ground to another in an irresistible phalanx, devouring 

 on their way every green thing they come across ; and nothing seems to divert 

 them from their course. Whilst " trekking " thus, as these periodical changes 

 of ground are called, the Boers fall upon them., and it is their delight to tell 

 of the havoc they play amongst these poor creatures. At such times they 

 can ride up to the van of the herd, and kill, either with shot-gun or rifle, as 

 many as they like. Only the foremost bucks, however, are worth killing, as 

 the herds move in such masses that the whole of the pasturage is devoured by 

 the first comers, those in the rear being left in a wretched condition from 

 want of food. 



Most British authors describe the springbuck as the fleetest antelope in 

 South Africa, and so he probably is for a very short distance ; but the old 

 Boers, who have had much experience in the pursuit of both these animals and 

 the blessbuck, insist that the latter far excel the former in point of speed and 

 endurance. The blessbuck rarely extends himself, but when he does, there is no 

 dog living that can come up to him ; whereas there are plenty of really first- 

 class greyhounds that, on fair ground, can run the springbuck to a standstill, 

 or kill it in its course. An ordinary greyhound, however, has no chance with 

 the springbuck, unless thoroughly well trained and possessed of considerable 

 strength and good feet. Piet Terblans, an old Boer farmer, who prides himself 

 on being the " Voor trekker " into the upper grass plains of the Orange Free 

 State forty years ago, told me that he had frequently owned dogs capable of 

 killing springbuck in a fair course, but never one that could touch a blessbuck 

 which was unwounded. In those bygone days, when game was abundant, he 

 had many opportunities of observing the tactics of the wild hunting -dogs 



