THE GREAT THICK-SKINNED ANIMALS i8i 



denly throw up their heads in alarm and dash rapidly away before he 

 has had a chance for a shot. This is only one of many kinds of dis- 

 appointments which must be borne with a smile and a hope to do better 

 next time. If one imagines that hunting in Africa is simply a matter 

 of standing still and shooting down animals on all sides, the only 

 qualification necessary being ability to shoot fairly straight, by all 

 means let him change his mind before he goes to try it. The sport 

 requires not only the most accurate sort of shooting, and that under 

 conditions of light and heat vibration which would make good shooting 

 impossible for one unused to such conditions, but it requires the hardest 

 work in making one's way through pathless jungles, endurance on a 

 long chase after a wounded animal, perseverance through overwhelm- 

 ing disappointments, and it is probably needless to say that life itself 

 hangs almost continually on bravery and presence of mind. Rugged 

 health is necessary to withstand the heat and the fever-bearing vapors 

 which rise from every swamp, and other insidious diseases peculiar 

 to the African climate, as well as the long hard marches sometimes 

 necessary. 



If a would-be African sportsman is absolutely sure, through long 

 trial and severe test, that he possesses all these qualifications, lie mav 

 safely undertake such a trip as Mr. Roosevelt has made. It must be 

 remembered that the ex-President was a man ranked with the greatest 

 American sportsmen, having had many years of big game hunting in 

 our own Rockies, in addition to his record as a brave and tireless 

 soldier and all around athlete. Few men possess such qualifications, 

 and without them it is well to stay out of Africa and confine oneself 

 to some less rigorous and dangerous sport. 



The Wart-Hog. — To continue with the pachyderm family. \\'c 

 now come to the ugly and forbidding wart-hog, or African boar. This 

 animal provides a great deal of sport, armed as he is with long and 

 dangerous tusks. Although they are usually hunted with the smaller 

 bore rifles, a sport is growing up gradually of spearing them from 

 horseback like the sport of pigsticking, so popular in India. The 

 British ofificers there have devoted a great deal of time to training 

 their ponies and themselves to this exciting sport with the native 

 Indian wild boar. 



