PREFACE 



In the Presidential x\ddress to the British Association at its 

 last meeting, Mr. Thiselton-Dyer quoted a letter from Sir 

 John Kirk, deploring the neglect of opportunities for scientific 

 usefulness by British residents in West Africa. "■ Such 

 chances," he said, " never will occur again, for roads are 

 now being made and ways cut in the jungle and forest, 

 and you have at hand all sorts of trees level on the ground 

 ready for study. These bring down with them orchids, ferns, 

 and climbers of many kinds, including rattan palms, etc. 

 But, excellent as are the officers who devote their energy to 

 thus opening up this country, there is not one man who knows 

 a palm from a dragon-tree, so the chance is lost. Strange to 

 say, the medical men of the Government service know less and 

 care less for Natural History than the military men, who at 

 least regret they have no training or study to enable them to 

 take an intelligent interest in what they see around them." 



Having felt the same regret on the other side of the 

 continent, I had already divided this book into two parts — one 

 devoted to a narrative of a journey in Eastern British East 

 Africa, and the other to a general account of the natural history 

 of the country visited. I have tried to make the latter suf- 

 ficiently simple to be intelligible to most readers, and yet of 



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