CHAPTER XLiy 



Roosevelt in the Wilds of British East Africa 



IN Book Three of this work the remarkable animals of Africa were 

 described; in Book Four we gave the story of the great African 



discoverers, those daring men who penetrated the wilderness 

 of the dark Continent, faced its dangers, and made clear the mystery 

 which had long troubled the mind of civilized mankind. The 

 names of these great explorers, and especially those of Livingstone 

 and Stanley, stand in the same rank as those of Columbus and Magel- 

 lan. They are among the leading discoverers of the world and their 

 names will always be famous among those who have sought to pene- 

 trate the marvels and solve the problems of the earth. 



After these pioneers there came into the African wilds a series of 

 daring men of different mould. These were the great hunters, the men 

 who bearded the lordly lion in his den, stood boldly before the horned 

 and ferocious rhinoceros, invaded the path of the furiously charging 

 elephant, fearlessly faced the most savage of animals on the earth and 

 lived to tell of their boldness and their triumphs. There have been 

 many of those men, the Nimrods of the African wilderness. We have 

 not told their names or described their deeds, reserving the story of 

 the hunter of the lion and rhinoceros for one of the latest and boldest 

 of them all, Theodore Roosevelt, the first great American to face 

 these savage creatures on their native soil. The records of hunting 

 adventures are much alike, and the exploits of our hero must serve 

 as a type of those of his predecessors. 



In Book Two of this work the reader will find a rapid survey of 

 Roosevelt's year in Africa, a picturesque description of the country 

 he traversed, the sights he beheld, the scenes of animated nature which 

 met his eyes, a vivid photograph of the remarkable country through 

 which he passed from the port of Mombasa on the coast of British 

 East Africa to the lakes at the head of the Nile and the broad current 



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