| OCR Text |
Show 1876.] DISTRIBUTION OF SOUTH-AFRICAN MAMMALS. 279 My route from Natal was as follows:-I left Pietermaritzburg on the 15th of May, crossed the Drakenberg range on the 6th of June ; on the 8th the bullocks were lost, which delayed me about a week ; but I reached Pretoria on the 28th of June. I left again on the night of the 30th, and struck the Crocodile or Limpopo river on the 10th of July, and travelled slowly along the river for the sake of some shooting. Bamangwato was not reached until about the 5th or 6th of August. I was detained here about a week, but at last left on the 12th. Unfortunately I took a wrong road on the way to the Tati, and had to retrace m y tracks for some considerable way, which delayed my arrival there until the 28th of August. I left the Tati on the 1st of September, and reached the Samouqui river, my furthest point, about the 12th of the month. The route on m y return journey was precisely the same, but took less time, owing to the much lighter load to be carried down. M y waggon arrived in Pietermaritzburg on the 3rd of January 1874. My stay in the country having been very short, from the end of April till the middle of the following January, and not much more than the half of that time having been spent in a game country, my notes cannot be very extensive. I shot twenty-two different species of animals, and saw others,-a fair number, considering I had to do all my shooting on foot, and with very little aid from the natives. I have been aided in m y notes by friends whose experience was much greater than mine, and also by such books as I could get ; but, being so far away from a library, there were, of course, many to which I could not refer: this must be taken as an excuse for many errors into which I may have fallen. I have purposely avoided giving descriptions of any animals, as they are mostly described in Harris's book from actual specimens. In the Table exhibited (see pp. 291, 292) I have endeavoured to give the geographical distribution of these larger animals in Southern Africa, as far as I could gather it, both at present and formerly ; but I could get no information concerning Natal and the countries immediately south of it, though it is probable that the coast-line, where it represents the Zulu country, would be occupied by the same animals. Apparently most of the South-African Antelopes have their representatives to the north and west; thus the Waterbuck is represented by the Sing-Sing on the west, and the Mehedet of Baker on the north. Many other instances might be mentioned. Some species, again, are common to the whole of Africa, as the Giraffe and one species of Black Rhinoceros; others, again, are very limited in range, as the Blesbock. The horns of all species of Antelope, whatever their shape may be hereafter, are the same when young, and consist of two small stumps three or four inches long, standing almost straight up. While the horns are growing, especially during summer, their bases are quite soft, and for a considerable way up can be pulled off in flakes. 1. ELEPHAS AFRICANUS. (The Elephant.) Excepting the few still preserved by Government in the Knysna |
