j,o THE EAST AFRICAN RAILROAD 



and avail themselves of it. No one has issued a bulletin in animal 

 language to the effect that a treaty of peace has been signed between 

 man and beast, so far as this region is concerned. Yet the fact is that 

 since the shooting of innocent creatures has ceased within the railway 

 zone, it can be traversed in safety from the death-dealing bullet, and 

 its native inhabitants have come to recognize this interesting fact. 



Much has been written in past times concerning the intelligence 

 of animals. Some maintain that they are governed by instinct only, 

 that they lack the faculties of thought and reason. But how are we 

 to understand the fact just stated? Instinct is hereditary. It must 

 develop as a native possession of the creature concerned. It cannot 

 cover the question of adaptation to new conditions, unknown to the 

 ancestry of the animal. We cannot well escape from the conclusion 

 that thought is here involved, the power of recognizing a new situa- 

 tion and taking advantage of it. In the small brain of the antelope, 

 the ostrich or the giraffe must awaken some such conception as : "This 

 place is safe. We hear no more the thunder and see no more the 

 blinding flash of those black tubes In the hands of two-legged mur- 

 derers, and no more behold our fellows fall dead. Safety dwells near 

 the thunder engine ; we can trust ourselves there." 



And this is not all. They not only say this to themselves, but 

 seem able to tell the glad tidings to their fellows, so that multitudes 

 of diverse creatures gather there in utter trust. Or the mere fact 

 that some of these creatures have ceased to fear the engine and its 

 laden train may inspire others to the same trustfulness. 



The example of animal intelligence here seen is by no means con- 

 fined to this corner of Africa. Something like it is known in many 

 lands. It is a common experience of hunters that birds, which fly in 

 fear from the vicinity of the gun-bearing man they have learned to 

 dread, pay no heed to a passing wagon, experience having taught them 

 that danger does not lurk within it. The protected animals within the 

 Yellowstone National Park have learned a similar lesson and have 

 ceased to fear man within its charmed boundaries. It is said that an 

 elk, heedful and fearful outside its bounds, puts on a different attitude 

 w^hen the magic limit is crossed, stalking about in proud confidence 

 and seeming disdain of its native enemy. 



