FOREWORD 



" I SPEAK of Africa and golden joys "; the joy of wander- 

 ing through lonely lands ; the joy of hunting the mighty 

 and terrible lords of the wilderness, the cunning, the 

 wary, and the grim. 



In these greatest of tlie world's great hunting- 

 grounds there are mountain-peaks whose snows are 

 dazzling imder the equatorial sun ; swamps where the 

 slime oozes and bubbles and festers in the steaming 

 heat ; lakes like seas ; skies that burn above deserts 

 where the iron desolation is shrouded from view by the 

 wavering mockery of the mirage ; vast grassy plains 

 where palms and thorn-trees fringe the dwindling 

 streams ; mighty rivers rushing out of the heart of the 

 continent through the sadness of endless marshes ; 

 forests of gorgeous beauty, where death broods in the 

 dark and silent depths. 



There are regions as healthy as the Northland ; and 

 other regions, radiant with bright-hued flowers, birds, 

 and butterflies, odorous with sweet and heavy scents, 

 but treacherous in their beauty, and sinister to human 

 life. On the land and in the water there are dread 

 brutes that feed on the flesh of man ; and among the 

 lower things, that crawl, and fly, and sting, and bite, he 

 finds swarming foes far more evil and deadly than any 

 beast or reptile ; foes that kill his crops and his cattle, 



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