xtensive park. A lawn, level as a
billiard-table, was everywhere spread with a soft carpet of
luxuriant green grass, spangled with flowers, and shaded by
spreading _mokaalas_--a large species of acacia which forms the
favourite food of the giraffe. The gaudy yellow blossoms with which
these remarkable trees were covered yielded an aromatic and
overpowering perfume--while small troops of striped quaggas, or wild
asses, and of brindled gnoos ... enlivened the scene.

"I turned off the road," he continues, "in pursuit of a troop of
brindled gnoos, and presently came upon another, which was followed
by a third still larger--then by a vast herd of zebras, and again by
more gnoos, with sassaybys and hartebeests pouring down from every
quarter, until the landscape literally presented the appearance of a
moving mass of game."

Further on he describes the extensive and romantic valley of the
Limpopo, "which strongly contrasts with its own solitude, and with
the arid lands which must be traversed to arrive within its limits;
Dame Nature has doubtless been unusually lavish of her gifts. A bold
mountain landscape is chequered by innumerable rivulets abounding in
fish, and watering a soil rich in luxurious vegetation. Forests,
producing timber of the finest growth, are tenanted by a multitude
of birds, which, if not generally musical, are all gorgeously
attired; and the meadows throughout are decked with blossoming
geraniums, and with an endless profusion of the gayest flowers,
fancifully distributed in almost artificial _parterres_. Let the
foreground of this picture, which is by no means extravagantly
drawn, be filled in by the animal creation roaming in a state of
undisturbed freedom, such as I have attempted to describe, and this
hunter's paradise will surely not require to be coloured by the
feelings of an enthusiastic sportsman to stand out in striking
relief from amongst the loveliest spots in the universe."

A recent traveller discourses pathetically over the changes that
have come over the country, which at that time was described as "the
Zoological Gardens turned out to graze." He says the lawyer and
financier thrive where in recent years the lion and the leopard
fought for food, and townships have sprung up on spots where living
Boers have formerly shot big game.

As an instance of the truth of this lament, one may make some
quotations from Mr. Campbell's valuable article, "The Transvaal, Old
and New." He says, "The