Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 2 (1898).djvu/282

250 small store existed where passengers obtained refreshment. While breakfasting here on my return journey, some Kafirs brought in a very healthy young Lion cub, with the skin and skull of its mother, which they had recently killed on the opposite side of the river, thus proving conclusively that Lions were still found in this part of the Transvaal, a fact of which I had been in some doubt. Securing Lion cubs is a dangerous proceeding. I heard that a short time previously some Kafirs had found unprotected cubs, and had crossed the river three times with them to destroy their spoor, as they felt the parents would undoubtedly follow. They safely secured their retreat with the cubs, but the infuriated Lions came across some innocent Kafirs, and killed three of them. I endeavoured in vain to purchase this young specimen from the storekeeper, but found £5 no inducement. Both the skins and skulls of Lions are occasionally brought into Pretoria market by the Boers, and during the scarcity of game caused by the rinderpest more than one was killed in spots much nearer civilization than was considered probable.

But there are other noxious animals in the vicinity. I had a chat with a colonial who had embarked in Transvaal farming, and listened to a tale of woe. Porcupines (Hystrix afra-australis) were devastating his potatos; they ran between the rows of "earthed-up" plants, where they easily burrowed and secured the roots; a colony of Baboons visited at uncertain intervals his "mealie" crop, as did also some "Wild Pigs," probably Sus africanus, whilst Locust swarms frequently ravaged the farm. My friend Dr. Percy Rendall, who resided near, and in, Barberton for some two years, and was an enthusiastic and successful naturalist and collector, has recorded the Antelopes of the district in "Field-notes on the Antelopes of the Transvaal."

Barberton is a quiet little town now, with memories of vanished glories and perished prosperity as a mining centre. Lofty and well-wooded mountains form its background; in front, one gazes over an undulating scene; the surface is waved, and looks like a petrified stormy sea. In the town no one seemed prosperous, and no one hopeless, and there was a Micawber-like trust in some vast future gold industry. The climate is subtropical—the temperature reached 128° F. during my visit (January)—good