THE SPRINGBUCK 



prey, like an army of camp followers, kept in the 

 wake of these migrating herds, preying upon them 

 whenever they felt so inclined. So prolific was the 

 Springbok that, in spite of the great mortality 

 caused by their natural enemies, severe periodic 

 droughts, and the pygmy Bushmen and Hottentots, 

 these antelopes continued to increase in numbers 

 until the advent of the European colonist, who 

 steadily reduced them to a mere fraction of their 

 former strength. 



The Boers divided the Springboks into two 

 sections : the " hou-bokken," which usually remain 

 on the same veld, and the " trek-bokken," which 

 were those that migrated. These latter were 

 generally smaller, and not in such good condition as 

 the former. 



Springboks live out in the open, exposed, treeless 

 veld, and do not seek shelter except in exceptionally 

 cold weather or during the lambing season, when 

 they sometimes betake themselves to the bush-veld. 

 In the past they associated on the South African 

 veld with the Zebra, Wildebeest, Blesbok and 

 Ostrich. In his interesting book Between Sun and 

 Sand, Mr. Scully, in writing of the great Springbok 

 migrations, says : 



" It is many years ago (1898) since millions of 

 them crossed the mountain range and made for the 

 sea. They dashed into the waves, drank the salt 

 water and died. Their bodies lay in one continuous 

 pile along the shore for over thirty miles, and the 



93 



