° 1914 J Elliot, In Memoriam: Philip Lutley Sclater. 1 1 



with the Matabili the greatest fighting tribe in Africa, and which 

 soon after broke out and devastated all that region and he asked me 

 what I would do to protect myself and train, against a hostile na- 

 tion in arms. I saw the point and replied, "Very well I will go 

 through Masailand," a territory then little known or traversed, by 

 way of Zanzibar and Mombasa, but he strongly opposed this idea, 

 for it so happened he was then in constant correspondence with 

 that particular part of Africa, as his third son, Guy Lutley Sclater 

 was an officer in the Royal Engineers and was then engaged in the 

 construction of the railroad from Mombasa, which eventually 

 reached the shores of the Victoria Nyanza. He told me there was 

 great unrest among the tribes, that the rhinder-pest had nearly de- 

 stroyed the natives' cattle, and had made serious inroads among 

 the bovine Antelopes; that fever was prevalent and severe along 

 the line of the road, which proved unhappily too true, for his son 

 died of an attack of it, before I returned to England ; and he sug- 

 gested I should go through Somali-land, into the countries beyond, 

 north of the equator, and this I subsequently did. 



I only saw Sclater a few times after he left the service of the 

 Society. He was then living at Odiham Priory, about forty miles 

 from London, and on each occasion, he came up to town to see me. 

 Although it had been some years since we last met, in the first inter- 

 view, I saw but little change in him. He was still active, both 

 physically and mentally, took as much interest in natural science 

 as ever, and he told me in the course of conversation, that he still 

 rode to hounds once or twice a week. A few years after, I was 

 again in London, working daily in the British Museum on the Pri- 

 mates, and he came again to see me, this time however, accom- 

 panied by his eldest son William Lutley Sclater, and I thought I saw 

 a change. He was not so erect, nor so physically active, and when 

 he entered my room, he seemed weary, and it was evidently a relief 

 for him to be seated. But his mind was as clear and active as ever, 

 and during his visit he asked many questions about my work, in 

 which he took great interest, for he had written a good deal on the 

 Primates himself in the years gone by; but when he rose and took 

 my hand to say good-bye, I felt it was a final parting, as I was 

 soon to leave England, and as he passed towards the door, I said 

 in a low tone to his son who had lingered behind, " take care of your 



