The morning news., 1899-11-19

at shoulders is feet 9ls inches. aud the
horns are 2 feet 10 inches long. Their meat
is excellent, and because of their unsus-
picious nature Their destruction is mote
easily effected. The koodoo is the most
numerous of The .arge antelores. Its hight
at the withers is 1919 hands. The bonteboF,
Whlch Is described as the harnessed ante
iope, is practically extinct in Cape COO
ny and Free State, but found in consid-
erabie numbers in the Transvaal ami
Bechuanaland.
Most Exciting Sport.
Next to laying low h,ppopotamus, rhin-
oceros and buffalo, the hunt for ihe gems
box is the most sensat tional one. The GEMS
box IS found in considerable numbers in
the north of Cape Colony, a,so in the Kali
ahari desert, and in The Ge man pcsses-
sions to the north of the Orange river Ii
IS most wicked animal, and has remark
able strengl h Its horns, which are very
sharp, are thr5e feet lcug, and il has been
known to kill lions with them. The gems
box is iorty-siX Inches high at the shoul-
der and has a pure white head with
black markings. In one of the sporting
goods houses Of Pretoria is to be found
the skeleton of the gemsb k with the skel-
eton Of lion impaled on the knife-like
horns. The OryX figures in the are coat
Of arms, and is said 10 be the origin of
the unicorn, the two horns seen in profile,
appearing as one.
The haartebeest which literally means
stag OK; the zwaart Widebeest or black
wild OK, though properly a White-tailed
gnu, and Vaal, the box, are to be found
in plenty in the mountain ranges of the
Colony and Natal, and in the vicinity of
the Orange river The rheboX is very shy,
fast as thought and Is seldom run down.
1t is five feet long, but only two and one
half feet in hight. 1t weighs 450 pounds
Another animal hard to run down. be-
cause of its agility, is the khpspringer,
which is sturdily built and lives almost
always on the rugged mountains. The
klpspringer is like the English roek-buck
and is frequently referred to as the kip
box.
The duiker and steen box are numerous
in the bushy sections of the country.
Duiker really means diver, and the animal
gets its name from its habit of diving into
the thickest bush at the least noise 1t IS
dark brown in eo.or. and for that reason
difficult to see. The steen box literally
means stone goat, and is one of the small
est but most beautiful of the antelopes.
The bosch box, oh bush buck, is also com
mon in the bush country, has little speed
and as a result is often captured in the
open. II barks like dog when brough.
to bay.
The spring box, or jumping goat, is the
most plentiful of the antelope family, and
herds of them are to be found in the noun
famous districts. The hyena wolf, wild
dog, jackal, wild pag, giraffe, zebra and
baboon furnish another interesting part of
South African hunting for those who 90
not care to try for mel ion, leopard, ele-
phant, rhinoceros and hoppopotamus. Que
of the most experienced hunters recently
in this city said he would prefer any of
these big animals for the hunt 20 the bur-
falo. They share with the lion the honor
of being the most formidable opponents of
BG farG 10, 49,
Colony or Natal without special permis-
sion. The lions of South Africa are the
finest the world over, and nave twice the
strength of the ordinary lion. The gray
necked is particularly ferocous grows
twelve feet from nose to tail tip, is forty
inches high at shoulder and weighs 900
pounds. 1t can cover eighteen PAGES at
one bound and has been known to leap
a wall with a medium-sized bullock in
his mouth The most deadly shot is be-
tween che eyes. A bullet behind the
shoulder, even though it pierces the heart,
win not prevent the deadly spring.
The elephant is almost eXterminated in
the Colony and Transvaal, where, fifty
years ago, it was so numerous. In 1873
the export of ivory from Cape Colony was
fe0, 402, and it has now fallen TO less than
f2,0 900. The ears of a bun elephant, when
extended i'm charging, measure fourteen
feet from tip TO tip across the forehead.
Inc tuSkS weigh ABOUT I50 pounds. some
have reached 800 pounds. They dislike
nose, and have teen driven away by the
mining operators. The crack of whip is
frequently sufficient 10 scare them off.
The best hunters Of South Aria, in ad-
dition o the wagon outfit, take with them
on trips two native boys to care for the
oxen. One, the driver, Is paid IA month,
and carries lhe whip, which has a handle
twelve feet long ard a cash Of twenty feet.
Both hands are required to use this in
strument. which, in expert hands, can in
flict terrible punishment. The crack of the
whip resent he's pistol shots
The second boy is paid thirty shilings a
month and leads the front span of oxen by
means of a leather rein. This boy fire.
quently attends to the cooking and beds.
So far as guns are concerned, the heav-
lest kind of rifle is needed for elephants.
The Dutch use an o.d smo9th-bore ''rosr''
which carries four ounce spherical bu9-
let. The piece weighs thirty pounds. For
ordinary heavy game a pair of No. rifles
of fourteen pounds each, burning twelve
10 fourteen drains of powder, and dis
charging a hardened bullet of three ounces
are the popular sty.e. Guns, however, are
a matter of opinion, which the hunter must
decide for himself