In Wildest Africa ^ 



own great red deer come hither at midday to quench his 

 thirst — a splendid figure, considerably bigger and stronger 

 than he is to be seen elsewhere. A herd of wallowing 

 wart-hogs or river-swine will sometimes startle you into 

 hasty retreat before you realise what they are. The 

 tree-tops rock under the weight and motion of apes 

 unceasingly scurrying from branch to branch. Every 

 now and again the eye is caught by the sight of groups of 

 crocodiles, now basking contentedly in the sun, now 

 betaking themselves again to the water in that stealthy, 

 sinister, gliding way of theirs. 



Not so long ago the African traveller found such scenes 

 as these along the banks of every river. Nowadays, too 

 many have been shorn of all these marvels. Take, for 

 instance, the old descriptions of the Orange River and of 

 the animal life met with along its course. No trace of 

 it now remains. 



I should like to give a picture of the animal life still 

 extant along- the banks of the Pang-ani. The time is 

 inevitably approaching when that, too, will be a thing of 

 the past, for it is not to be supposed that advancing 

 civilisation will prove less destructive here. 



So recently as the year 1896 the course of the river 

 was for the most part unknown. When I followed it for 

 the second time in 1897, ^"^ when in subsequent years I 

 explored both its banks for great distances, people were 

 still so much in the dark about it that several expeditions 

 were sent out to discover whether it was navigable. 



That it was not navigable I myself had long known. 

 Its numerous rapids are impracticable for boats even in the 



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