156 WANDERINGS AND MEMORIES 



a better price was to be obtained in London, he 

 sent it there, and at a sale at the Docks it realised 

 4500. 1 



Neumann was now forced to accept the fact 

 that his adventurous life as an elephant hunter 

 was finished, and that he would not be allowed to 

 return and hunt with the freedom he had previously 

 enjoyed. Thus he writes from Mombasa July 28th, 

 1906 



" It will sound strange to you, I daresay, and 

 if you were not a close friend I should not dare 

 to say it, but it would seem a poor compliment that 

 the prospect of leaving my country and giving 

 up the life I love makes me sad. I know so well 

 the misery of feeling like a fish out of water, with 

 neither part nor lot in anything at home. Here 

 in my ' nowhere' I have been happy, and never 

 suffered from those terrible fits of depression that 

 weigh me down there. ' Here shall ye find no 

 enemy but - - and hot weather.' I fear I will 

 have to give it up for good, or at all events I shall 

 have to leave my own part and go, perhaps to the 

 Congo Free State. Now I am as well as ever, and 

 able to continue my pursuits in spite of increasing 

 years. If I am compelled to lead a life of stagnation 

 I shall soon get old." 



He arrived home in October 1906, and soon after 

 landing he had a severe attack of influenza, which 

 left him weak and depressed. In April he came 

 to stay with me, and seemed to have quite recovered 

 his spirits and good health, and talked of returning 



1 This was without four or five of the best tusks, which he 

 kept for himself as specimens. 



