Elephants: About 25 in Knysna, and 120 in Uitenhage divisions. Gemsbok: About 4000 principally in Bushmanland and Bechuanaland, with a fair lot in Barkly West division. Koodoos: 4000, found mostly in the divisions of Uitenhage, Willowmore, Jansenville, Port Beaufort, Albany, Victoria East, and Vryburg; and in lesser numbers in Ladismith, Oudtshoorn, Prince Albert, Riversdale, Griqualand West, Kuruman, and Mafeking. Oribi: A few are still to be found in Bathurst division, where they were specially protected until Jan. 31st, 1901; and in Griqualand East (where they are specially protected), and in Bathurst until Oct. 21st, 1900. Rietbok: About 450 in Komgha and Kimberley divisions, and a few in Griqualand East, where they are specially protected until May 28th, 1902. Zebra: Between 300 and 400. The bulk of them in George, Oudtshoorn, and Uniondale divisions, with a few detached troops in the divisions of Cradock, Prince Albert, and Somerset East. Hartebeest and Wildebeest in fairly large numbers are found in Bechuanaland and Griqualand West, but continued unauthorised slaughter of these animals on the unoccupied lands on the desert borders has, it is feared, already largely reduced the numbers; but the Game Laws Amendment Act, No. 33, of 1899, passed last session, will, it is hoped, enable effective measures to be taken to put a stop to such acts. The presence of these animals in large or small numbers in the former locality depends largely on the state of the veld, and the dryness or otherwise of the season in the Kalahari Desert. Wild Ostriches: About 2500, principally in Bechuanaland, Griqualand West, and Bushmanland."
The vanishing Mammalian Fauna of South Africa is the subject of an interesting article in the 'Cape Times' of Nov. 28th, by Frederick R.N. Findlay, from which we quote as follows:—
"It is marvellous how rapidly the countless herds of game that once roamed over the rolling plains of South Africa[1] have been practically exterminated. The exquisite fauna of Africa in the past added greatly to the charm and fascination which that continent has had for so many men, but they are being swept away by an unenlightened 'civilization.' Some useful and magnificent forms of feral life are already as extinct as the Dodo, and others are on the verge of extinction. No more could a Pringle sing:
'And the timorous Quagga's wild whistling neigh
Is heard by the fountain at fall of day';
for the last of its tribe fell more than a score of years ago. The Blaauwbok (Hippotragus leucophæus) has gone these hundred years, and its beautiful relation, the Roan Antelope (H. equinus), is nowhere plentiful. The White
- ↑ "For the purposes of this article, when speaking of South Africa I mean the territory lying to the south of the Zambesi and Cunéné Rivers."
