The D estruction of African Game 
By FREDERICK COURTNEY SELOUS 
B y the lover of nature it is impossible that 
the spread of civilization and the gradual 
conversion of the uninhabited areas of 
the earth's surface into well-peopled industrial 
States should be regarded with feelings of un¬ 
mixed satisfaction. Not only are the grand and 
solemn beauties of nature themselves marred 
by even the finest works of the engineer and the 
builder, but the destruction of the wild creatures 
of the wilderness, which ever accompanies the 
march of civilization, removes for all time the 
chief adornment and the moSt interesting feat¬ 
ure of a wild country. 
Steamers on an African river; an iron bridge 
spanning the chasm at the bottom of which the 
pent-up waters of the mighty Zambesi rush in 
tumultuous haste below the Victoria Falls; a 
great hotel and rows of residential villas on the 
banks of the beautiful wild river itself, will no 
doubt be all very good, useful and necessary 
things in themselves; but, from the aesthetic 
point of view, T submit that they will not be in 
keeping with their surroundings. 
Time was, and that not so very long ago, 
when the greater portion of the African conti¬ 
nent was one immense game reserve. But vast 
areas have already been entirely depleted of wild 
animals, and, in view of the marvelous enter¬ 
prise which is now being displaj'ed by the lead¬ 
ing European nations to open up and develop 
every section of the country and the acquire¬ 
ment of large quantities of breechloading rifles 
and ammunition by Abyssinians, Somalis and 
other native tribes, one wonders if by the end 
of the present century there will be left in 
Africa any more game than exists to-day on 
the comparatively small game preserves of 
Europe, or in the United States. 
In the latter country a great nation of Euro¬ 
pean stock has spread over the land, and great 
cities have arisen where, less than 750 years 
ago, as President Roosevelt has recounted in 
that most interesting book, “The Winning of 
the West,” “shaggy-maned herds of unwieldy 
buffalo—the bison—had beaten out broad roads 
through the forest and had furrowed the 
prairies with trails, along which they had 
traveled for countless generations. The round¬ 
horned elk with spreading, massive antlers, the 
lordliest of the deer tribe throughout the world, 
abounded, and, like the buffalo, traveled in bands 
not only through the woods, but also across the 
reaches of waving grass land. The deer were 
extraordinarily numerous, and so were bears, 
while wolves and panthers were plentiful." 
What a picture of abounding animal life, all 
.or nearly all of which has been crushed out of 
existence before the march of civilization! 
Once, too, in Europe, as later in America, and 
even yet in Africa, there must have been a 
great abundance of game, as the hunting ad¬ 
ventures of Seigfried with bears, buffalo, elk, 
wolves and deer, recounted in the “Nieblung’s 
Lied,” assure us. 
Danacli schlug er wiecler cinen Buffel und einen Elk 
\’ier Starke Auer nieder und einen grimmen Schelk. 
Great herds of game have, however, now 
ceased to be a feature in the landscapes of 
Europe and Central North America, and in the 
whole world of to-day it is only in certain parts 
of Africa that great multitudes of animals can 
still be seen. 
The early Dutch settlers at the Cape found 
the open plains of the country filled with a pro¬ 
fusion of antelopes of many different species, 
while the forests of the coast regions harbored 
great herds of elephants and buffaloes, and in 
every river and swamp hippopotami were to be 
seen. Further to the north. Captain (afterward 
Sir Cornwallis) Harris and Sir Andrew Smith 
have left on record marvelous accounts of the 
extraordinary numbers of wild animals which 
they encountered about the time (1836) when 
the Boer voortrekkers first began to settle in 
the Orange River Colony and the Transvaal. 
At that time elephants, rhinoceroses—both the 
black and white species—buffaloes and hippo¬ 
potami existed in prodigious numbers through¬ 
out the northern and eastern districts of the 
Transvaal, and from the Orange River to the 
Limpopo ; on every open plain herds of quaggas, 
or Burchell’s zebras, as well as immense herds 
of many different varieties of antelope and 
troops of ostriches, were always to be seen; 
nor was it possible for a traveler in all that 
vast expanse of country to pass a night in the 
veld out of earshot of the lion’s roar. 
Beyond the Limpopo the vast herds of ante¬ 
lope, which congregated on the plains further 
south, were not to be seen ; but, still, the whole 
country was full of wild animals—elephants, 
rhinoceroses, hippopotami, giraffes, buffaloes, 
elands, zebras, sable and roan antelope, koodoos 
and many other beautiful species. To-day there 
is but a poor remnant of all this abounding and 
varied fauna left. The march of civilization has 
destroyed it. 
I visited South Africa too late to see the mag¬ 
nificent profusion of animal life described by 
Harris and Gordon Cumming, but even as late 
as 1875 dark masses of blesbucks and white¬ 
tailed gnus were still to be seen on the plains 
between Potchefstroom and Kroonstad; while 
in 1872, 1873 and 1874 I met with very large 
numbers of big game in northern Matabeleland 
and in the valleys of the Zambesi and Chobi 
rivers. The last place where I met with a great 
'abundance of game in South Africa was in the 
neighborhood of the Pungwe River in 1891 and 
1892, before the rinderpest swept over the coun¬ 
try, and also before any Europeans had hunted 
there; for the Portuguese never hunted, nor 
ever left the footpath leading from the Pungwe 
River to IMassikessi. 
Despite the ravages of man and the terrible 
destruction caused by the rinderpest, there is 
still a fair sprinkling of game in parts of south¬ 
ern Rhodesia. While throughout northern Rho¬ 
desia and British Central Africa, game, though 
nowhere to be met .with in the vast herds which 
once astonished the' earliest visitors to South 
Africa, may still be fairly described as plenti¬ 
ful. Further north, in German and British East 
Africa, game still survives in glorious profus¬ 
ion, and the most interesting and one of the 
easiest journeys in the whole world that could 
be undertaken by a lover of nature to-day would 
be a trip on the Uganda Railway. After emerg¬ 
ing from the bush country, which fringes the 
coast of East Africa, this line runs for hun¬ 
dreds of miles through open plains, which at 
certain seasons of the year present the appear¬ 
ance of a well-stocked zoological park. Herds 
of zebras, gnus, hartebeests, Grant’s and Thom¬ 
son’s gazelles, as well as troops of ostriches, are 
almost constantly in sight, often quite close to 
the railway line, as they have now become quite 
accustomed to the sight of passing trains. 
Besides the animals enumerated above,, water- 
bucks and impala antelope may also often be 
seen from a carriage on the Uganda Railway 
as well as an occasional rhinoceros and giraffe. 
In many parts of East Africa and Uganda ele¬ 
phants still exist in great numbers, while rhi¬ 
noceroses, giraffes, elands and many other beau¬ 
tiful antelope, as well as Ijons, leopards, wild 
dogs, hyenas and other carnivora, which prey 
upon them, are very plentiful. 
Now, a question which must present itself to 
every thinking man is this; Ca.n the game which 
still exists in all these territories be indefinitely 
preserved in its present quantities? To that I 
think the answer to be given is: Yes, as long 
as those countries remain in their present state 
of development, and provided, at the same time, 
that first, the natives are not allowed to possess 
firearms, and that the destruction of game by 
them by other means is carefully regulated and 
restricted. 
Second, that certain areas are set aside as ; 
sanctuaries for wild animals, and that within 
these sanctuaries no European or native is al- . 
