EARLY DAYS AND EARLY WAYS 21 



spring-buck — before the invasion of their haunts by 

 white men and railways — maintained huge numbers, 

 roaming the veldt in hundreds of thousands. It is difficult 

 to appraise the relative values of these two contrasts 

 because we have no accurate knowledge of the average 

 duration of life in either the case of the mouse or the 

 antelope. 



The horse and the ox again produce but one at a birth, 

 the pigs as many as fifteen ; but though the horse may 

 attain to forty years of age and the pig to twenty-five, 

 during the reproductive period the pig produces more 

 young than the horse — from which we must assume that at 

 some phase of their life wild pigs must be called upon to 

 stand a heavy death-rate. In the case of the horse, at a 

 generous estimate not more than fifteen young are produced 

 by any one pair ; in the case of a pig not less than 180, for 

 the sow becomes sexually mature at about nine months 

 old. She will continue bearing, say, till twelve years, 

 producing from eight to fifteen or even more at a birth. 

 At least this is true of the domesticated races of pigs, 

 which may produce two litters a year. But in the case of 

 the wild pig we may put the number of young produced 

 at one hundred with a fair show of accuracy. 



The lion, one might suppose, would produce fewer 

 young than the zebra or antelope, on which it preys, 

 though the reverse is actually the case. There seems, 

 however, good evidence to show that there is a very 

 considerable infantile mortality among these great car- 

 nivores ; though so far no one has been able to detect 

 its form — ^whether from some disease like distemper, or 

 from the action of selection in weeding out those who 

 bungle at killing. 



Surprise has been expressed that lions and other African 



