Supplement 1918 23 



Interior of South Africa. He spent the whole of the years 1844 

 to 1848 as a hunter and a naturalist among the great mammalia 



. trica, which abounded in these years and is now all but 

 extinct. 



Hi^ book is unique as a first-hand document regarding the 

 natural life and the habits of these animals in what was their 

 own home. It is, of course, concerned mostly with his success 

 as a sportsman; but, in the absence of the sporting instinct 

 with the courage and the enterprise required to gratify it, he 

 rould not have made the intimate acquaintance with these 

 animals, which is exhibited in the notes descriptive of what 

 may be calk-d their personal habits in a state of freedom, which 

 frequently interrupt, and, to a certain extent, relieve and 

 embellish the narrative of the hunter. 



Remarkable examples of these are the descriptions of: 



the Gemsbok. in Chapter V; the Wild Dogs, in Chapter VIII; the 

 Lion, in Chapter IX; the Rhinoceros, in Chapter XI; the Girafit , in 

 Chapter XII; and the Elephant, passim. 



short extracts, which follow, may be taken as samples, 



in Chapter IX, of his descriptions as a naturalist, 



and the second from Chapter XI, of his narrative as a hunter. 



Hid encourage the reader to study the book, because 

 the thing has passed forever 1 . 



THE HABITS OF THE LION 

 Extract from Chap. I X 



One of the most striking things connected with the lion is his voice 



mely grand and peculiarly striking. At times, and not 



juently, a troop may be heard roaring in concert, one assuming the 



and two, three, or four more, regularly taking up their parts. They 



-ay nights; but on no occasions an their \ 

 to be heard in such perf- ;,tensely powerful, .is when t 



ige troops of lions approach a fountain to drink at the same turn 

 i this occurs, every member of each troop sounds a bold roar of dot 

 at the opposite parties; and when one i roar together, and each 



1 It was my good fortune, as a boy, to be taken to see his collection <>f 

 heads and oth< :.ite.i in r.iasgow in the yar 



1850. It was the most remarkable collection ever made by one m.m ami. 

 in making it. he used nothing but the muzzle loading gun and rifle, black 

 powder and hard bullets. 



