xxiv BIG GAME SHOOTING 239 



than any form of plain hunting. Lastly, there remain 

 the hot, inhospitable, waterless, and unhealthy 

 portions of the Protectorate, areas which are unlikely 

 for very many years to be taken up and settled and 

 which form a very considerable proportion of the 

 whole Protectorate. Here among the thorns and 

 sand many such species as elephant, rhino, giraffe, 

 eland, oryx, gerenuk, Grants gazelle and kudu will 

 indefinitely afford sport for those who are prepared to 

 pay the price in work, sweat, and discomfort. Here, 

 too, will be the last stronghold of the noblest of them 

 all, the lion. 



It is generally considered advisable to insert a 

 paragraph or two as to the danger attendant on and 

 considered an integral part of the sport of big game 

 shooting. I must confess to not being in agreement 

 with the theory that danger is such an essential 

 element of the sport. It is true that it adds an 

 additional spice to the pleasure of those who enjoy it, 

 and also a very agreeable method of impressing the 

 ignorant around the smoking-room fire. If, however, 

 the danger forms the essence of the sport, why go 

 further than a meadow where there is a herd of cattle, 

 polled for choice, and an impracticable fence ; then, 

 having locked the gate, proceed to compass the death 

 of the bull with a small bore rifle. More ■ sport ' 

 could be guaranteed than from any beast in the 

 Protectorate. Being of a cautious nature, I can 

 affirm, even from my small experience, that the 

 amount of necessary danger has been very greatly 

 exaggerated. It is, I suggest, considerably less than 

 in hunting and infinitely so than in driving partridges 

 over a low fence between two jealous shots who have 

 lunched not wisely but too well. I should imagine 



