THE SPORTSMAN IN SOUTH AFRICA. 135 



variety of their denizens), that the Zambesi, Botletle, and Okavango 

 Rivers, with their tributaries, and Lake 'Ngami, will favourably 

 compare with the Cape seas, and here also an extensive and un- 

 explored field for the operations of the naturalist still remains 

 practically untouched. Several native tribes in the tropical portions 

 of South Africa — and notably the Makobas and Masieuvias — except 

 in a few solitary cases, are not in possession of horned cattle, their 

 principal means of subsistence mainly depending upon fish, and par- 

 ticularly some descriptions closely allied to the perch. These are 

 captured in enormous quantities when the inundations occur, with a 

 species of net very skilfully made from the fibre of a flagger-looking 

 plant {Sansevtera lanuginosa) which grows extensively in the vicinity 

 of the rivers and lakes, the threads from which are almost as fine as 

 silk and as strong as fishing gut. Of course, sport with the rifle and 

 shot-gun will be the most exciting attraction in the Interior, but 

 game is not likely to be always at hand, and even where so the work 

 of slaughter in this direction will pall everi on the most ardent 

 sportsman. A day off with the fish will often form a pleasing 

 contrast to the usual routine of life in the wilderness, and no one 

 travelling in the Hinterland should be unprovided with a couple of 

 the strongest jack-rods and a good supply of tackle of a description 

 similar to that used for perch, roach, and other coarse fishing in 

 England, and strong hand-lines and cod-hooks for "Barbers." It 

 would be quite a matter of impossibility to give, within the compass 

 of this volume, a complete list of the South African fish, but 

 mention will be made of some of the best known varieties which are 

 most likely to form an attraction in the way of sport. 



FRESH-WATER FISH. 



The Cat Fish (Clarias capensis). — Barbel or Barber of the 

 Cape Colonists. 



[ This is a species of the Seluroids, and authenticated specimens 

 have been obtained weighing upwards of yo lbs. The skin devoid of 

 scales, and is similar to that of the eel ; head and mouth excessively 

 large, the upper portion of the former flat and composed of a homy 

 rugged shell, resembling in texture that of the gurnard, and some- 

 times exceeds in weight the remainder of the body ; eyes very small, 

 placed close to the corners of the mouth, the latter of which are 

 merely bony excresences ; upper and lower lips furnished with long 



