150 AFRICAN GAME ANIMALS 



taken certain important steps. But it is the British Govern- 

 ment which has done most. Major Stevenson Hamilton's 

 dehghtful and noteworthy book on the subject gives an idea 

 of the immense good that has been accompHshed in South 

 Africa by the estabhshment of game preserves. In East 

 Africa the estabhshment of the game preserve between the 

 coast and the capital of the colony has made the railroad ride 

 through it an experience literally unique — an experience such 

 as has never been posssible for men to enjoy before our own 

 day. Moreover, the game laws generally in these and 

 other African colonies, such as Uganda and the White Nile 

 region, have been so observed that for the last decade there 

 has been no sensible diminution of the game. The elephant, 

 buffalo, hippopotamus, eland, and the like are in the aggre- 

 gate as plentiful now as they were ten years back, the chief 

 diminution in the elephant being among the big tuskers, 

 while the buffalo have increased in numbers. Too much 

 credit cannot be given to the officials responsible for this 

 condition of affairs, and to men like Schillings, Sir Harry 

 Johnston, Buxton, and the others who by their writings and 

 preachings have created the public opinion which rendered 

 possible such action as the officials in question have taken. 

 Schillings's books, and those of Harry Johnston also, are 

 the most effective pleas imaginable against waste and 

 destruction of wild life. William T. Hornaday's volume 

 entitled "Our Vanishing Wild Life" should be in the hands 

 of every American legislator, and indeed could be read with 

 profit by the legislators of most other civilized countries. 



It is necessary to make one point, however, in connec- 

 tion with the movement for the preservation of game. Our 

 chief task so far has been to awaken people to the need of 



