24 degs.,
in one day's march with the bullock-waggons, he saw, without
wandering to any great distance on either side, between
one hundred and one hundred and fifty rhinoceroses, which
belonged to three species:
The same day he saw several herds
of giraffes, amounting together to nearly a hundred; and
that although no elephant was observed, yet they are found
in this district. At the distance of a little more than one
hour's march from their place of encampment on the previous
night, his party actually killed at one spot eight
hippopotamuses, and saw many more. In this same river there
were likewise crocodiles. Of course it was a case quite
extraordinary, to see so many great animals crowded together,
but it evidently proves that they must exist in great numbers.
Dr. Smith describes the country passed through that
day, as "being thinly covered with grass, and bushes about
four feet high, and still more thinly with mimosa-trees."
The waggons were not prevented travelling in a nearly
straight line.
Besides these large animals, every one the least acquainted
with the natural history of the Cape, has read of
the herds of antelopes, which can be compared only with the
flocks of migratory birds. The numbers indeed of the lion,
panther, and hyaena, and the multitude of birds of prey,
plainly speak of the abundance of the smaller quadrupeds:
one evening seven lions were counted at the same time prowling
round Dr. Smith's encampment. As this able naturalist
remarked to me, the carnage each day in Southern Africa
must indeed be terrific! I confess it is truly surprising how
such a number of animals can find support in a country
producing so little food. The larger quadrupeds no doubt
roam over wide tracts in search of it; and their food chiefly
consists of underwood, which probably contains much nutriment
in a small bulk. Dr. Smith also informs me that the
vegetation has a rapid growth; no sooner is a part consumed,
than its place is supplied by a fresh stock. There can be
no doubt, however, that our ideas respecting the apparent
amount of food necessary for the support of large quadrupeds
are much exaggerated: it should have been remembered
that the camel, an animal of no mean bulk, has always been
considered as the emblem of the desert.
The belief that where large quadrupeds exist, the vegetation
must necessarily be luxuriant, is the more remarkable,
because the converse is far from true. Mr. Burchell observed
to me that when entering Brazil, nothing struck him more
forcibly than the splendour of the South American vegetation
contrasted with that of South Africa, together with
the absence of all large quadrupeds. In his Travels, [6] he has
suggested that the comparison of the respective weights (if
there were sufficient data) of an equal number of the largest
herbivorous quadrupeds of each country would be extremely
curious. If we take on the one side, the elephant, [7] hippopotamus,
giraffe, bos caffer, elan, certainly three, and probably
five species of rhinoceros; and on the American side,
two tapirs, the guanaco, three deer, the vicuna, peccari,
capybara (after which we must choose from the monkeys to
complete the number), and then place these two groups
alongside each other, it is not easy to conceive ranks more
disproportionate in size.
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