NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 
In the distant past they served a good and useful 
purpose in checking the too rapid increase of the 
game animals, which would otherwise have increased 
in numbers to such an extent that the vegetation 
of the country would not have supplied their needs, 
and starvation, dire and complete, would have over- 
taken them. In those days the wild dogs had few, 
if any, natural enemies. ‘True, a lion could easily 
master one if it should happen to be caught alone, 
but the lordly lion disdained the flesh of the wild 
dog, and only attacked it at such times as when, in 
the act of devouring some animal it had killed, the 
wild dogs became over venturesome in endeavouring 
to snatch up a mouthful or two of the meat. 
The males fought fiercely amongst themselves, 
and in this way, no doubt, numbers were killed. 
However, they were probably kept in check mainly 
by disease epidemics. 
On the advent of the pigmy Bushman, the Wilde 
Honde for the first time had a serious and formid- 
able rival. The Bushmen were a race of hunters. 
They knew not the art of tilling the ground, nor did 
they tame and rear animals for food. They were 
in what is known as the Hunter phase of culture 
or development, and, like the Wilde Honde, they 
hunted the game animals of the country for food. 
The Wilde Honde and the Bushmen were bitter 
enemies, for they were rivals, and frequently came 
in contact in consequence. The dog was no match 
for the nimble Bushman, armed with a bow and 
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