136 AFRICAN CAMP FERES. 



Outram, Hoey, and the others ; white traders 

 with the natives of distant lands ; owners of 

 farms experimenting bravely on a greater or lesser 

 scale in a land whose difficulties are just beginning 

 to be understood ; great naturalists and scien- 

 tists from the governments of the earth, eager 

 to observe and collect this interesting and 

 teeming fauna ; and sportsmen just out and 

 full of interest, or just returned and modestly 

 important. More absorbing conversation can 

 be listened to on this veranda than in any other 

 one place in the world. The gathering is cos- 

 mopolitan ; it is representative of the most active 

 of every social, political, and racial element ; it 

 has done things ; it contemplates vital problems 

 from the vantage ground of experience. The 

 talk veers from pole to pole and returns always 

 to lions. 



Every little while a native a raw savage 

 comes along and takes up a stand just outside 

 the railing. He stands there mute and patient 

 for five minutes a half hour until some one, 

 any one, happens to notice him. 



" N'jo ! come here ! " commands this person. 



The savage silently proffers a bit of paper on 

 which is written the name of the one with whom 

 he has business. 



