CH. t] KAPITI station 21 



for the next fortnight, and we owe primarily to him, to 

 liis mastery of luniting craft, and his nnvarying and 

 generous hospitahty and kindness, the pleasure and 

 success of our introduction to African hunting. His 

 life had been one of such varied interest as has only 

 been possible in our own generation. He had served 

 many years in Parliament ; he had for some years been 

 a magistrate in a peculiarly responsible post in the 

 Trans\ aal : he had journeyed and hunted and explored 

 in the northern Sahara, in the Soudan, in Somaliland, 

 in Abyssinia ; and now he was ranching in East Africa. 

 A singularly good rider and one of the best game shots 

 I have ever seen, it would have been impossible to find 

 a kinder host or a hunter better fitted to teach us how 

 to begin our work with African big game. 



At Kapiti Station there was little beyond tlie station 

 buildings, a "compound" or square enclosure in which 

 there were many natives, and an Indian store. The 

 last was presided over by a turbaned Mussulman, the 

 agent of other Indian traders who did business in 

 Machakos-boma, a native village a dozen miles distant ; 

 the means of communication being two-wheeled carts, 

 each drawn by four humped oxen, driven by a wellnigh 

 naked savage. 



For forty-eight hours we were busy arranging our 

 outfit, and the naturalists took much longer. The 

 provisions were those usually included in an African 

 hunting or exploring trip, save that, in memory of my 

 days in the \Vest, I included in each provision box a 

 few cans of Boston baked beans, California peaches, and 

 tomatoes. We had plenty of warm bedding, for the 

 nights are cold at high altitudes, even under the Equator. 

 While hunting I wore lieavy shoes, witli hobnails or 

 rubber soles ; khaki trousers, the knees faced with 



