FOREWORD xiii 



our race, and it is well that it should grow. There- 

 fore we should prize exceedingly all contributions 

 of worth to the life-histories of the great, splendid, 

 terrible beasts whose lives add an immense majesty 

 to the far-off wilds, and who inevitably pass away 

 before the onrush of the greedy, energetic, forceful 

 men, usually both unscrupulous and short-sighted, 

 who make up the vanguard of civilization. 



Mr. Selous has hunted in many parts of the 

 world, but his most noteworthy experiences were 

 in Africa, south of the Zambezi, when the dry up- 

 lands, and the valleys of the dwindling rivers, and 

 the thick coast jungle belt, still held a fauna as 

 vast and varied as that of the Pleistocene. Mighty 

 hunters, Dutch and English, roamed hither and 

 thither across the land on foot and on horseback, 

 alone, or guiding the huge white -topped ox- 

 wagons ; several among their number wrote with 

 power and charm of their adventures ; and at the 

 very last the man arose who could tell us more of 

 value than any of his predecessors. 



Mr. Selous by his observations illustrates the 

 great desirability of having the views of the closet 

 naturalist tested by competent field observers. In 

 a previous volume he has effectively answered those 

 amiable closet theorists who once advanced the 

 Rousseau-like belief that in the state of nature 

 hunted creatures suffered but little from either pain 

 or terror ; the truth being that, in the easy con- 

 ditions of civilized life, we hardly even conceive of 

 pain and horror as they were in times primeval ; 

 while it is only in nightmares that we now realize 

 the maddened, hideous terror which our remote 

 ancestors so often underwent, and which is a 

 common incident in the lives of all harmless wild 

 creatures. In the first two chapters of the present 

 volume, Mr. Selous' remarks on the fallacy of much 

 of the theory of protective coloration are excellent. 



