Wild Life in Central Africa. 



CHAPTER I. 



REMARKS ON SPORT AND MAKING A HOME 

 IN THE BUSH. 



British East Africa and Central Africa compared Long-range shooting 

 at game Somali hunters compared with other natives Life in a tent 

 unhealthy Village life and tropical pests Rats White ants Fleas 

 killing ducks and fowls Bees and hornets Snakes Hut building 

 Cutting poles Native bark string Grass cleaning Grass seeds 

 Knowledge of use to young colonists The best type of man for a 

 colonial life. 



.THERE are few countries among our British possessions 

 that can offer a better field for the hunter or field-naturalist 

 than do the territories in Africa known as Nyasaland 

 and Northern Rhodesia, the latter formerly known as 

 North-Eastern, and North- Western, but now under one 

 administration. There the sportsman or traveller will, 

 in the wilder parts of the country, see the land and 

 people under primeval conditions, and the cost of such 

 travel will not be so excessive as it has become in British 

 East Africa, where wealthy men have foolishly squandered 

 their superfluous wealth to the detriment of poorer, though 

 often better, sportsmen than themselves. In 1911 I visited 

 British East Africa, and I am bound to admit that it is a 

 splendid game country, although the conditions of shooting 

 on the plains are not nearly so sporting as they will be 

 found in the country I am to write of in this volume. On 

 the plains a man usually rides about on a pony or mule, 

 and it is customary to fire very long shots at game ; in 

 fact, the animals there seem to have learned the range of 

 modern rifles to a nicety, and it is difficult for the man who 



B 



