144 WANDERINGS AND MEMORIES 



me and his great friend MacLeod of MacLeod (to 

 whom he dedicated his excellent book entitled 

 Elephant Hunting in East Equatorial Africa, and 

 pubHshed by Rowland Ward & Co. in 1897), and 

 also, when in Africa, he kept up a regular corre- 

 spondence. He was a man of an extremely shy, 

 hypersensitive nature, and subject to alternate 

 fits of gaiety or depression, but when happy was 

 of such a charming, lovable temperament to all 

 who knew him intimately that his society was a 

 continuous pleasure. In crowds he was like a 

 hunted fox, and it was indeed strange to see a man 

 who would cheerfully face a wounded lion or 

 elephant thrown into a very panic of nervousness 

 by the traffic of Piccadilly. It was certainly not 

 fear, but merely the hatred of noise and confusion 

 that obsessed him. In later years he imagined 

 that nearly every one disliked him, and this ob- 

 session grew upon him to such an extent that he 

 avoided all intercourse with people who were often 

 most anxious to be kind to him. 



In November 1899 Neumann went to South 

 Africa to take part in the second Boer War, and 

 it can be no surprise to the reader, who may know 

 how some things were managed in that campaign, 

 to learn that such an efficient and highly experienced 

 man, knowing the country thoroughly, and speaking 

 both Boer-Dutch and Zulu, was refused a commis- 

 sion on the Staff, where his knowledge would have 

 been of the greatest value. 



Colonel Bethune, however, knew him well, and 

 asked his help to raise an irregular, mounted infantry 

 force, and this was at once forthcoming. When 

 the corps was complete, and had undergone pre- 



