FOREWORD 



yards of the train game of every description abounded. 

 Now even in Kenya Colony, its last great stronghold, 

 animal life is rapidly disappearing, and the lover of 

 wild creatures living, loving, and roaming amidst their 

 natural surroundings has only a sense of loneliness 

 and disappointment in place of former joy. 



If a halt is not called to the senseless destruction 

 going on in Africa, there will very soon be nothing left 

 even on that vast continent to make it worth while for 

 the naturalist to pay it a visit, and Zoological Gardens 

 all over the world (to say nothing of Museums) will 

 be unable to replace their specimens, and future 

 generations will curse the thoughtless selfishness of 

 the slaughterers of the present age. 



This wholesale extermination of big game is due in 

 part to the activities of the settler, and in part, I regret 

 to say, to a certain type of photographic expedition or 

 safari, which, whilst pretending to forward the interests 

 of Natural History, frequently takes as big a toll of 

 animal life as the Big Game hunter proper, who goes 

 out with the sole and frank idea of collecting specimens. 



The settler, of course, must make a living, and help 

 to extend the bounds and prosperity of the British 

 Empire ; but, alas ! there are too many men of this 

 class who consider it no part of their business to 

 preserve the game or to respect the laws made to 

 protect it. On the other hand, one can record with 

 a true sense of thankfulness that there are men hke 



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