34 THE WONDERS OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 



and even if it had presented many, I should not readily have ceased admiring these elegant animals, 

 or have been diverted from watching their manners. It was only occasionally that they took those 

 remarkable leaps which have been the origin of the name ; but when grazing or moving at leisure, 

 they walked and trotted like other antelopes, or as the common deer. When pursued, or hastening 

 their pace, they frequently took an extraordinary bound, rising with curved or elevated backs high 

 into the air, generally to the height of eight feet, and appearing as if about to take flight. Some of 

 the herd moved by us almost within musket shot, and I observed that, in crossing the beaten road, the 

 greater number cleared it by one of those flying leaps. As the road was quite smooth, and level with 

 the plain, there was no necessity for their leaping over it, but it seemed that the fear of a snare, or a 

 natural disposition to regard man as an enemy, induced them to mistrust even the ground which he 

 had trodden." Mr. Burchell further says, the springbok is easily distinguished from all the known 

 species by the very long white hair along the middle of the back, which, lying flat, is nearly concealed 

 by the fur on each side, and is expanded only when it takes those extraordinary leaps which first sug- 

 gested its name. 



In the Scenes and Occurrences in Coffer Land, the Antelope is thus spoken of: — " We saw several 

 hearty- beasts, one of the largest species of deer, with very handsome horns ; and the pride of the plain, 

 t he spring-buck ; the latter, which are extremely timid, are about the size of the common deer, and 

 of the same colour, with a white stripe on each side, and a black stripe along the back, which they 

 have the power of closing and expanding. They take their name from the amazing spring which they 

 make over paths, rocks, or any thing that obstructs their way, and it is done in a singularly graceful 

 manner, the head bowed, the legs hanging, and the body curved, so that the animal appears as if sus- 

 pended in the air ; the fleetest greyhound only can overtake them. It is very amusing to see their 

 contemptuous treatment of all other pursuers ; they allow them to come near, then give a bound and 

 a snort, and trot off to a little distance, when they expand their hair on their backs, and appear quite 

 white. They are very destructive to the corn, and are seen on farms in numerous herds." 



The immense herds of these animals, which at times pour from the Bushman territory upon the 

 northern boundaries of the Cape colony, have been well described by Captain Stockenstrom, who was a 

 native of that country. " It is scarcely possible (he says) for a person passing over some of the ex- 

 tensive tracts of the interior, and admiring that elegant Antelope, the springbok, thinly scattered 

 over the plains, and bounding in playful innocence, to figure to himself that these ornaments of the 

 desert can often become as destructive as the locusts themselves. The incredible numbers which 

 sometimes pour in from the north, during protracted droughts, distress the farmer inconceivably. Any 

 attempt at numerical computation would be vain, and by trying to come near the truth, the writer 

 ■would subject himself in the eyes of those who have no knowledge of the country, to a suspicion that 

 he was availing himself of a traveller's assumed privilege. Yet it is well known in the interior, that 

 on the approach of the trek-bokken, as these migratory swarms are called, the grazier makes up his 

 mind to look for pasture for his flocks elsewhere, and considers himself entirely dispossessed of his lands 

 until heavy rains fall. Instances have been known of some of these prodigious droves passing through 

 flocks of sheep, and numbers of the latter, carried along with the torrent, being lost to the owners, 

 and becoming a prey to the wild beasts. As long as these droughts last, their inroads and depre- 

 dations continue, and the havoc committed upon them is, of course, great, as they constitute the food 

 of all classes; but no sooner do the rains fall, than they disappear, and in a few days become as scarce 

 on the northern borders as in any of the more protected districts." 



