INTRODUCTION XVii 
ridden and walked more than five thousand miles, I really 
think I have some knowledge that is not without its value— 
about the country —the best place to go for certain sorts 
of game; the most beautiful and healthy parts of it; 
the sort of sefari to gather round you, and how to control 
and manage it, so that your men are contented and happy, 
and the days passed with your black folk are a pleasure 
to both yourself and them, and not what, unfortunately, 
they too often are when ignorant or thoughtless sports- 
men hurry their men from point to point, misunderstanding 
and dislike increasing as they go. Ihave learned, too, a good 
deal about African hunting; how it should be done to-day, 
and that, I can assure my reader, even if he has hunted 
as I have, in a great many different places, takes care and 
time — African big game hunting is quite unlike any other. 
These things that I have learned and seen, I have not 
been able, as I say, to find in any book, or gain from any 
sportsman. That may have been my fault or my mis- 
fortune, but the fact remains. I have therefore resolved 
to publish the record of them, being confident that there 
are others who may wish to visit this beautiful country, 
and who need to gain all the information they can before 
doing so. Much time and expense are saved to the man 
who knows what he wants to do, and has at least some idea 
of how he intends to do it. 
Some may, I fear, think that I have overburdened my 
story with detail; items of outfit; measurements of animals; 
distances at which shots were made; description, or, 
rather, attempts at description of scenery; or notes on the 
habits of little known beasts and birds. All I can say is 
that I do as I would be done by, and to the best of a poor 
ability put down for others what I wish heartily someone 
else had put down for me. 
But when I have said all this, I have not yet mentioned 
my strongest reason for publishing anything about Africa. 
