A LION-SPEARING SAFARI, 425 



ex-President on his hunting trip, E. M. Newman, of Chicago, the 

 African explorer and lecturer, said in an interview : 



" I believe that the two expert guides, Tarleton and Cunning- 

 hame, have done much to keep Mr. Roosevelt in safety. They have 

 stood at his back when he was attacked by wounded wild beasts and 

 when other perils threatened. 



" Most people think this has been only a hunting trip, but I be- 

 lieve that is the smallest end of it. I have no doubt his exploit will 

 be an inspiration to mankind. 



" I believe that nothing less than an attempt to grapple with the 

 world's problem of civilization, with the continental experiment 

 possible in Africa, was what was in his mind. 



NATIVES BELIEVE HIM TO BE A "GREAT KING." 



" Mr. Roosevelt is an astonishing hiker. He will go striding 

 through the jungle for thirty miles a day and then, after writing in 

 long hand until late in the night, he will sleep about six hours and 

 repeat the performance the next day. The natives in his party 

 worship him and believe him to be a ' great king.' Their name for 

 him — Bwana Tumbo — is the greatest compliment they could pay 

 him. The fact that w^hite men, whom they encounter, pay him such 

 deference only strengthens their belief that he is a great ruler. 



*' Roosevelt is just now going into the districts of peril from the 

 tsetse fly. I followed expert advice in wearing a net over my 

 helmet all the time. The tsetse fly looks like the ordinary housefly. 



" After its bite there are no symptoms for about two months, 

 when convulsions occur, the red corpuscles disappear from the blood, 

 through which the microscopic germs run like electric eels. The 

 victims fall asleep. It is called the sleeping sickness. It swept 

 away 300,000 in Uganda in two years. 



" The government has been driving the natives away from the 

 water, brush and shade, where the fly lives ; otherwise it is believed 

 that the tsetse fly would have annihilated them. Four years ago 

 there were 20,000 on the Sese Islands; to-day less than too souls. 

 The tsetse fly took all the rest." 



Mr. Roosevelt carried with him on his African trip one of the 



