10 THE SPORTSMAN IN SOUTH AFRICA, 



are numerous species of the larger antelope so plentiful as in the 

 Transvaal. The Chartered Company of British South Africa have, 

 by the enactment of stringent laws, attempted to stem the tide of 

 slaughter, but owing to the vast extent of their territory, it is feared 

 that insurmountable difficulties will lie in their way to prevent them 

 being carried into effect. It was only when the very last of the 

 American bison stood a chance of being removed from the face of 

 the earth that the United States and Canadian Governments first 

 awakened to the necessity of doing something towards saving the 

 small remnant of these interesting animals from becoming totally 

 extinct. 



The questions will now be asked, Is South Africa in a favourable 

 situation ? or is she careless of making some determined move of a 

 like nature before the arrival of the inevitable day when it becomes 

 too late ? The first question is one that can readily be answered; 

 the second must for the present rest in abeyance. 



As specially instanced in the case of Griqualand West, the 

 effectual enforcement of the game laws, and the gradual fencing in 

 of farms by their owners, coupled with the widespread growth of an 

 interest among the sporting inhabitants of that province regarding 

 the preservation of game, have within the last five or six years 

 led to an astonishing increase of Duikers and Steinbuck, as well 

 as some varieties of feathered game. The laudable results thus 

 obtained with a little trouble and at small expense will at least 

 have a lasting effect as regards the smaller gazelles, but if any- 

 thing of a like nature be attempted in South Africa on behalf of 

 the larger antelopes, it must be on a widely different scale. 



Immediately West of the territories of the Bamanwaketse and 

 Bakwaina Bechuanas in the Bechuanaland Protectorate, there are 

 numberless thousands of square miles of the rolling, well-timbered 

 grass country of the Kalahari, unoccupied except by a few half- 

 starved families of Vaalpens and wandering Bushmen, whose sole 

 means of subsistence depends entirely on such edible roots as are 

 afforded by the soil, or the welcome but seldom obtained addition to 

 their frugal fare of the flesh of some animal of the chase. No 

 matter how valuable it may ultimately become for the purposes of 

 cattle ranching, it is improbable that this country — so unjustly 

 termed a "desert " — will ever prove capable of supporting a popula- 

 tion of either white or black, owing to the great scarcity of surface 

 water, and although forming a portion of the dominions of the chiefs 



