Page:Africa by Élisée Reclus, Volume 4.djvu/141

 FAUNA OF SOUTH AFRICA. 106 ooii<«i8tiii^ ulinost fxcluHively of acacias furniHh(><l with a formidublo thorny armour. In tho nudni of tho Hunds grow a few uliraeiitury pluiits which oiiublc travellers to risk tho dangers of tho desert. Such is the " HuHhmun's |)otiito," a tuber of some- what bitter flavour, bat leaving a pleasant aftertuste, and whose broad green leaves flecked with brown are all charged with water. A species of onion with white flower, which supplies their chief food to the monkeys of the Kalahari, is also hij^hly appreciated by the natives. Hut the great resource for men and animals is the nura or sania {Acanthoiicyw /lorn'da), calknl also the " wild melon," a cucurbitacc<>u«< plant not unlike our culti- vated melons, which contains both a savoury meat and a refreHhing drink. This fruit may be preserved in the sand:) for months together; it grows also in the Namaqua country and on the plateaux inhabited by the Ilereros. The Kalahari flora is connected by insensible transitions with those of Angola in the north-west, of the plains of the Upi)er Zambese in the north, and of the Upper Limjx>po basin in the east. Tho Magulies Mountains alxive Pretoria may be regarded as the botanical parting-line between the floras of the Kalahari region and of the slopes draining eastwards to the Pacific Ocean. Fauna of Soirn Africa. Hy a singular and almost inexplicable contrast, the Cape region, so rich in indigenous vegetable forms, possesses scarcely any animals j)eculiar to itself. So far as regards its fauna. Austral Africa is merely a southern continuation of the tropical portion of the continent. No such striking contrast occurs elsewhere, except in Tibet, which has scarcely developed any endemic plants, but which has, nevertheless, given birth to so many distinct animal species. But if South Africa is poor in aboriginal animal types, it was till recently, and north of the Orange River still is, 8ui-])risingly ri.h in individual members of groups coming from the northern regions of the continent. So recently as the beginning of the present century the districts farthest removed from the Cape settlements still deserved the title of the " huntin;;-ground of the earth." Nowhere else could be found such prodigious multitudes of large mammals, and the herds, especially of antelopes, could at that time be compared with clouds of locusts. A large part of the literature bearing on the South African colonies has reference to the subject of hunting. Hut with the steady progress of colonisation the ancient inhabitants, both men and animals, have been continually driven farther north. The hippopotamus, who-<t^ remains have been found in the alluvial deposits of the Caledon Valley, has l)een extinct from time immemorial in the UpjMjr Orange basin. The elephant, rhinoceros, buffalo, monkey, antelope, and ostiich have, at the same time, retreated in company with the Bushmen from all the coastlands. For nearly two centuries none of these animals have been seen in the wild state in the Cape Town district, and most of them have already withdrawn l)eyond the mountains, or even beyond the Orange River. The baboon, however, as well as the