AUTHOR'S PREFACE 



I MUST say I believe in being as up to 

 date as possible, so that whenever I go 

 to a new country, usually a semi-savage 

 one (which has happened pretty often, since 

 I have been extraordinarily lucky ever since I 

 joined the Service), I make a point of buying, 

 borrowing, or stealing the very latest book about 

 that country, and of getting myself well up in 

 its communications and geography, and in the 

 present-day customs, habits, and the hundred 

 and one details connected with its inhabitants. 



As others may be of like mind, I am trying 

 another wild wield of the pen in order that my 

 shooting (chiefly) experiences may not be locked 

 up in my own brain and therefore wasted, when 

 somebody in this era of big-game shooting, ex- 

 ploration, and travel might possibly benefit from 

 their being put on paper. 



The old-time history you can well afford to let 

 slide for the time being, as that makes all the 

 more interesting reading later, when you find 

 yourself leading a more or less exciting existence, 

 very likely in one of the places or districts where 

 that history has been made. Then take up your 



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