A PLEA FOR THE SAVAGE 



totally unfitted me for company, and my one wish was 

 to be alone, quiet and undisturbed. Had I been feeling 

 well I would have liked to stay and renew old friendships, 

 but in the existing state of my health I preferred to con- 

 tinue the journey. At Mombasa, where I was in hospital 

 for some weeks suffering from malaria, I met with the 

 greatest kindness from many old friends, especially 

 Mr. Walter Brown. At length I left Mombasa on the 

 good ship Bilr germeister, of the D.O.A.L., and sailed for 

 Delagoa Bay. Thus ended my trip in Central Africa at 

 the age of twenty-three. 



Those days are now growing faint in the shadow of 

 the past, and I am once again in Old England. The 

 well-worn helmet and khaki shirt open at the neck, the 

 short pants and gun are now laid aside for a time. I 

 suppose I shall soon forget the drawbacks of Central 

 Africa and be preparing again for another expedition. 

 It is curious that when you have left a country behind you 

 invariably remember its good points alone and long to 

 be back. The more I see of Africa the more susceptible 

 I am to its fascination. 



Here in the Old Country there is a feeling of con- 

 finement that is very noticeable after the free, open 

 life of the Colonies. The cant, hypocrisy, and pettiness 

 of the older countries is appalling after the great stretches 

 of veldt, forest, and scrub of Africa. 



My greatest pleasure now is to sink deep in a com- 

 fortable chair and smoke a pipe, to think and dream of 

 those strange people so far away, dwellers in the forests 

 and other fairy-like regions of Central Africa. As the 

 smoke curls up slowly from my pipe I can almost see a 

 silent, deep-flowing river with banks overhung by tall 

 palms and swinging creepers, gay sunbirds, droning be. ss, 

 and buzzing insects against the sombre green of the great 

 trees in the forest beyond. I can see a canoe coming 



255 



