CHAPTER X 



BRITISH EAST AFRICA 



EVERY one, I suppose, even the most matter-of-fact 

 of men, cherishes in his inmost heart visionary dreams 

 in which his wildest fancies crystallise into solid fact, 

 and his fondest imaginings become permanent realities. 

 For the most part we have to remain content with 

 dreams, our Meccas remain unvisited, the marches 

 of the Never-Never land for ever untraversed, and, 

 at the same time, our illusions unshattered. Now 

 and again the gods smile, and we come to our Mecca, 

 and return, doubly fortunate, our aforetime visions a 

 reality and our memories unspoiled by disappointment. 

 Africa for many years had been the Ultima Thule 

 of my day-dreams ; a land, not flowing, it is true, 

 with milk, though there is an abundance of honey, 

 but confining within its boundaries such herds of wild 

 game as no other country in the world can equal. 

 Gone, indeed, are the countless thousands which 

 thronged the high veldt in the days of Cotton Oswell 

 and the great Roualeyn ; gone are the days when 

 a man might wander from sea to sea, undeterred by 

 game laws, and reservations, custom-houses or ex- 

 pensive licences, slaying where he would, and, for 

 the most part, taking no thought of trophies which 



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