A Vision of Springbuck T HE sprin g buck may fitly be termed
the fairy of the South African veldt. Mere words are not suffi- cient to describe its grace, its charm, its curiously playful habits, its amazing fleetness, and the marvellous leaping powers from which it takes its name. No animal was ever more perfectly designed by Nature for the adorn- ment of those vast plains and karroos of Southern Africa, where this peerless creature has its home. I first set eyes on springbuck many years ago when, as a youngster, I was driving up-country in a Cape cart with two friends across the karroo. A troop of about 200 of them crossed the road in front of us, each gazelle, as it ran, clearing the track with one marvellous bound, as if delivered from a catapult. I have never known springbuck cross the tracks of mankind in any other way, nor do I think they ever do so. A few days later we had the pleasure of seeing these gazelles in large numbers grazing in the heart of the Great Karroo. We went out before dawn from the farmstead at which we were staying and saw the sunrise illuminating the mighty plains. As the mist cleared and the sun gathered strength strange and wonderful mirages quivered and shifted about the flats. A perfect picture of the home- stead, three miles away, hung exactly inverted, with the roof downwards, immediately above the real farm buildings. Away in the distance groups of trees and lakes of water, marvellous in their semblance of reality, appeared, though we knew well that, save for the one farm dam, the brown karroo was destitute of water in all this region. And now all round us were to be seen, flecking the great plain, hundreds of springbuck, which had already begun their freakish gambols and displays of leaping. When they are at play or disturbed they begin to move with lowered heads and curiously mincing -gait ; then, stiffening their slender limbs, suddenly they display a series of straight, upward leaps off the ground,- each leap from eight to ten feet in height. At the same time the back is arched and the blaze or fan of long snow-white hair is released from its fold and stands erect, imparting a most singular aspect to the leaping- buck. Then after half a dozen such -leaps, away they scour at a pace that quickly removes them far from the scene of danger. The speed of the springbuck is inimense and only a very good greyhound or an African cheetah in its first flashing rush can vie with them. In a prolonged chase the buck will easily outstay either of these fleet animals. Whether on the karroo, or the plains of Bushmanland, or the rolling grass tracts of the Kalahari Desert, where springbuck - are to -be viewed to great advantage, the spectacle is always an enthralling one. I remember especially one early morning on the great salt-pans of the Lake Ngami region. There on the smooth and silvery expanse of these pans the springbuck, after licking at the brackish substance which attracts them, love to display themselves in their most perfect setting. Viewed through a good field-glass, they are incredibly beautiful. The pranks (pronken, the Boers call them) in which they delight to indulge have here a charming natural theatre for their setting, and the spectator is for a time spellbound. Bushrnanland, the great desert region in the far north- west of Cape Colony, was once the headquarters of those immense eastward migrations of springbuck which periodically carried them towards the region of the rain- fall. Hundreds upon hundreds of thousands used to be on the move and vast tracts of country were stripped bare as by a flight of locusts. The last great Trekbokken took place in 1896, and, huge as it was, it seems to have been moderate compared with the invasions of earlier days. Springbuck are capable of existing for long periods without water ; but occasionally thirst overtakes them and they must drink. Some thirty years ago such a seizure attacked the herds of Bushmanland. They trekked in masses westward till they reached the sea coast. There they poured into the waves, drank greedily of the salt water and died in thousands ; their decaying bodies lined the shore for thirty miles and the stench drove the neighbouring Trek Boers far inland. Of all my memories of African wild life--and they are many—the vision of those swift and graceful children of the sunlit veldt is among the most constant and refreshing. H. A. BRYDEN.
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