sion for killing is in many persons so strong that neither thirst nor
fever deters them, and if the large game are to be saved, it will
clearly be necessary to place them under legal protection. This has been
attempted so far as regards the elephant, rhinoceros, giraffe, and
eland. In German East Africa Dr. von Wissmann, the Administrator of that
territory, has recently (1896) gone further, and ordained restrictions
on the slaughter of all the larger animals, except predatory ones. The
governments of the two British colonies and the two Boer republics,
which have already done well in trying to preserve some of the rarest
and finest beasts, ought to go thoroughly into the question and enact a
complete protective code. Still more necessary is it that a similar
course should be taken by the British South Africa Company and by the
Imperial Government, in whose territories there still survive more of
the great beasts. It is to be hoped that even the lion and some of the
rare lynxes will ultimately receive consideration. Noxious as they are,
it would be a pity to see them wholly exterminated. When I was in India,
in the year 1888, I was told that there were only seven lions then left
in that vast area, all of them well cared for. The work of slaughter
ought to be checked in South Africa before the number gets quite so low
as this, and though there may be difficulties in restraining the natives
from killing the big game, it must be remembered that as regards many
animals it is the European rather than the native, who is the chief
agent of destruction.

The predatory creatures which are now most harmful to the farmer are
the baboons, which infest rocky districts and kill the lambs in such
great numbers that the Cape government offers bounties for their
slaughter. But no large animal does mischief for a moment comparable to
that of the two insect plagues which vex the eastern half of the
country, the white ants and the locusts. Of these I shall have something
to say later.

CHAPTER IV

VEGETATION

The flora of South Africa is extremely rich, showing a number of genera,
and of species which, in proportion to its area, exceeds the number
found in most other parts of the world. But whether this wealth is due
to the diversity of physical conditions which the country presents, or
rather to geological causes, that is, to the fact that there may at some
remote period have been land connections with other regions which have