PREFACE 



When I started from England in the month of October 

 1899, nothing was further from my thoughts than writing 

 a book on Abyssinia. I intended to join a sporting 

 expedition, whose goal was the newly discovered game- 

 country round Lakes Rudolf and Stephanie. Circum- 

 stances altered my plans, with the result that after some 

 weeks' stay at Adis Ababa, I found myself engaged, 

 without a single white companion, on a journey through 

 regions which no European foot had trod for genera- 

 tions. Having kept a careful record of the sport I 

 enjoyed and the chief incidents of my wanderings, and 

 brought back numerous photographs of the scenery, 

 people, and game of the little-known districts through 

 which I passed, I have thought that the narrative of 

 my experiences, though containing no accounts of hair- 

 breadth escapes or records of gigantic slaughter, might 

 be sufficiently interesting to be published. In this 

 opinion I was encouraged by Mr. Rowland Ward, to 

 whom my thanks are due for undertaking the publica- 



