THROUGH THE PLEISTOCENE 



13 



The day after we landed we boarded the train to take 

 what seems to me, as I think it would to most men fond of 

 natural history, the most interesting railway journey in the 

 world. It was Governor Jackson's special train, and in addi- 

 tion to his own party and ours there was only Selous; and 

 we travelled with the utmost comfort through a naturalist's 

 wonderland. All civilized governments are now realizing 

 that it is their duty here and there to preserve, unharmed, 



Train on the Uganda Railway 

 From a photograph by Kermit Roosevelt 



tracts of wild nature, with thereon the wild things the de- 

 struction of which means the destruction of half the charm 

 of wild nature. The English Government has made a large 

 game reserve of much of the region on the way to Nairobi, 

 stretching far to the south, and one mile to the north, of the 

 track. The reserve swarms with game; it would be of little 

 value except as a reserve; and the attraction it now offers 

 to travellers renders it an asset of real consequence to the 

 whole colony. The wise people of Maine, in our own 

 country, have discovered that intelligent game preservation, 

 carried out in good faith, and in a spirit of common-sense as 



