288 KLOOF AND KARROO. 



almost incredible, but those who knew the old man 

 and who told it to me believed in it ; and amongst 

 the marvellous escapes of African hunters, it is not 

 altogether improbable. Old " Veldtbroeks " (as he 

 was called) and his rhinoceros story were well known 

 in the Eastern province five-and-thirty years ago. 



The Hippopotamus {Hippopotamus amphibius), 

 although I believe it only disappeared finally from 

 the Great Fish River within the last twenty years, 

 is now only to be found in the waters of the Orange 

 River, and there only to the westward of the Great 

 Falls. Formerly it abounded in every river in the 

 Colony. I believe a few are still to be found in the 

 rivers of Kaffraria. 



The Buffalo (Bubalus cajfer) is still fairly 

 numerous in the denser parts of the bush veldt 

 of the Eastern province. In the Knysna Forest, 

 the Zitzikamma Forest, on the slopes of the Great 

 Winterhoek range, and between Sunday River and 

 the Great Fish River, and the Great Fish and the 

 Kei Rivers, these fine animals find sanctuary. A 

 few are shot every year, especially between Wolve 

 Kraal and Uitenhage ; but the thickets in which 

 they lurk are so thorny and impenetrable, that 

 hunters find their sport attended with much pain 

 and peril, from the lacerations of the bush and the 

 dangerous nature of the buffaloes in these gloomy 

 thickets. 



The Zebra [Equus montanus), as I have pointed 

 out in a former chapter, is still fairly abundant on 

 some of the mountains of the Colony, notably the 

 Zwartberg, Witteberg, Great Winterhoek, Baviaans 

 Kloof, and Sneeuwberg, and near Cradock and a few 

 other places. 



