22 THE SPORTSMAN IN SOUTH AFRICA. 



and Gemsbuck is the difficulty of watering the shooting horses regu- 

 larly in the thirst-lands frequented by these animals. Oxen will 

 work constantly under favourable circumstances, and keep in condi- 

 tion, if watered once daily, whilst a horse in such a warm climate, 

 when continually used in severe chase, will quickly knock up and 

 become useless unless it drinks at least twice daily. The possession 

 of a good water cart is desirable, and will save many troubles and 

 annoyances, and very often the loss of a valuable shooting pony. 

 In hunting game in the "thirst," the cart, to which four or six 

 oxen are yoked, should be filled with water and a start made the 

 previous evening, which must be continued during the night as far 

 as possible in the direction of the intended operations on the follow- 

 ing day. Just when there is sufficient light to see, the search for 

 fresh spoor should commence, care always being taken to advance 

 up wind, the water carts keeping in touch with the horses' spoor at 

 a distance from which the cracking of the driver's whip is inaudible. 

 When a Giraffe, Eland, or Gemsbuck is sighted, hard straight riding 

 should invariably be the order of the day, as the animals mentioned, 

 if hard pressed at the start, will readily give in and can be ridden 

 down much quicker than if allowed to adopt their own pace 

 at the commencement of the chase. At such times the assaults 

 sustained from thorns, the dangers of meercat, jackal, or yawning 

 ant-bear holes, should be unworthy of the thoughts of a very 

 enthusiastic sportsman who takes part in the most exciting and 

 glorious sport in the world. 



It is somewhat difficult at the commencement to get into the 

 knack of shooting running game, as in the first place a certain 

 amount of practice is absolutely necessary, success depending much 

 less on the extreme accuracy of aim than the possession of a cool 

 judgment at the critical moment. It is either the want of know- 

 ledge of distances before referred to, coupled with a supreme anxiety 

 to kill, that renders the first attempts of the novice fruitless j^ and 

 this is scarcely to be wondered at when it is an established fact that 

 even the oldest and most experienced hunters, after undergoing the 

 vicissitudes of a long and tiring stern chase on horseback — carrying 

 a heavy rifle in the heat of a tropical sun — ^will occasionally, even at 

 close quarters, fail in hitting the large surface presented by the body 

 of a full grown bull Giraffe. When shooting on foot in thick bush, 

 whether the animals be dangerous or not, a thorough recovery from 

 a very common disease usually known as " buck fever," and which is 



