FOREWORD xix 



stances which would probably have insured a charge 

 from one of the big spotted cats of Africa or Asia, 

 or, for the matter of that, from a South American 

 jaguar. And by the way, in reading of the ravages 

 committed by leopards among the hounds of the 

 sport-loving planters of Ceylon, it has always seemed 

 to me strange that these planters did not turn the 

 tables on the aggressors by training packs especially 

 to hunt them. Such a pack as that with which I 

 have hunted the cougar and the black bear in the 

 Rocky Mountains would, I am sure, give a good 

 account of any leopard or panther that ever lived. 

 All that would be needed would be a good pack of 

 trained hounds and six or eight first-class fighting 

 dogs in order, as I thoroly believe, completely to 

 clear out the leopard from any given locality. 



Mr. Selous' notes on the Cape buffalo and tsetse 

 fly are extremely interesting. But indeed this is 

 true of all that he has written, both of the great 

 game beasts themselves and of his adventures in 

 hunting them. His book is a genuine contribution 

 alike to hunting lore and to natural history. It 

 should be welcomed by every lover of the chase 

 and by every man who cares for the wild, free life 

 of the wilderness. It should be no less welcome to 

 all who are interested in the life-histories of the 

 most formidable and interesting of the beasts that 

 dwell in our world to-day. 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 



THE WHITE HOUSE, 

 23, 1907. 



