BIG GAME SHOOTING 

 ON THE EQUATOR 



INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 



WHILST I think of it, I may here 

 state a very bald fact : that one stalks 

 game; every one knows it, and that 

 it is the proper thing to do ; but I 

 wish to say that no matter how rare the beast 

 may be, and how awfully anxious one may be 

 to get it, or if, on the other hand, it is very 

 common, but one wants meat for the pot, it is abso- 

 lutely playing the game to make the most careful 

 stalk possible. It is playing the game to oneself, 

 as it teaches one experience, and also to the 

 animal, as it makes all the difference to him whether 

 he is killed outright or goes off and dies a linger- 

 ing death in the jungle, probably being helped to 

 shuffle off this mortal coil by hyenas, and there- 

 fore being no meat or trophy for any one. One 

 must take one's chance at an ostrich "at 600 

 yards running," as my Masai orderly used to say. 



27 



