INTRODUCTION, 



At the present day it is quite possible, for any man who has the means and the 

 leisure, to undertake a trip to some part of the interior of Africa, and there shoot a 

 great deal of big game, without having time, even if the inclination should be present, 

 to learn anything of hunting lore. 



Steamers and railways will carry a sportsman to-day into the very heart of 

 the best shooting grounds of Africa in the course of a few short weeks, and a 

 professional Somali hunter can be engaged by anyone with a long purse, who will 

 place his services and life-long experience amongst African game at his master's 

 commands, and be to him all that the skilled stalker is to the inexperienced stag 

 hunter in the Highlands of Scotland. 



But putting aside the short-trip sportsman, who usually with all the will in 

 the world has not sufficient time to become a proficient hunter, there are great 

 numbers of young Englishmen — officers in various native levies, district magistrates, 

 etc. — who go to Africa intending to spend some years of their lives in one or other 

 of our great African Protectorates. Many, if not most, of these young men will be 

 fond of sport and will be anxious to study the habits of the various animals of the 

 countries in which they happen to be living, in order that they may become hunters 

 in the true sense of the term, in contradistinction to mere shooters. 



To all such would-be African hunters the following pages by my friends Capt. 

 Stigand and Mr. D. D. Lyell will prove a veritable mine of information. 



These two young authors have already spent several years of their lives in the 

 wilds of Africa, and have had a large experience of big game hunting in that country. 



They might have told many a stirring tale of personal adventure — Capt. Stigand 

 has been severely bitten by a wounded lion, and been tossed in the air, and had his 

 chest ripped open by a rhinoceros, whilst Mr. Lyell has had many interesting 

 experiences with elephants, rhinoceroses, and lions — but they have preferred to write 

 a book dealing purely with the habits and natural history of the animals they have 



