THROUGH THE PLEISTOCENE 21 



colonists who came to South Africa in 1820; they had never 

 been in England, and neither had Tarlton. It was exceed- 

 ingly interesting to meet these Australians and Africanders, 

 who typified in their lives and deeds the greatness of the 

 English Empire, and yet had never seen England. 



As for Sir Alfred, Kermit and I were to be his guests 

 for the next fortnight, and we owe primarily to him, to his 

 mastery of hunting craft, and his unvarying and generous 

 hospitality and kindness, the pleasure and success of our 

 introduction to African hunting. His life had been one 

 of such varied interest as has only been possible in our own 

 generation. He had served many years in Parliament; 

 he had for some years been a magistrate in a peculiarly re- 

 sponsible post in the Transvaal; he had journeyed and 

 hunted and explored in the northern Sahara, in the Soudan, 

 in Somaliland, in Abyssinia; and now he was ranching 

 in East Africa. A singularly good rider and one of the best 

 game shots I have ever seen, it would have been impossible 

 to have found a kinder host or a hunter better fitted to 

 teach us how to begin our work with African big game. 



At Kapiti Station there was little beyond the station 

 buildings, a "compound" or square enclosure in which 

 there were many natives, and an Indian store. The last 

 was presided over by a turbaned Mussulman, the agent of 

 other Indian traders who did business in Machakos-boma, 

 a native village a dozen miles distant; the means of com- 

 munication being two-wheeled carts, each drawn by four 

 humped oxen, driven by a well-nigh naked savage. 



For forty-eight hours we were busy arranging our out- 

 fit; and the naturalists took much longer. The provisions 

 were those usually included in an African hunting or ex- 



