Introductory. ix 



interfered with or wounded ; and the only animals that 

 may act offensively are man-eating lions at night, animals 

 with young which are closely approached, or those that 

 have been recently wounded and left by another hunter. 



The following pages have been written in the bush, and 

 I have had no opportunity of getting at books of reference, 

 though these were not much required, as the book deals 

 almost solely with my own experiences. 



Having kept diaries for the ten years I have spent in 

 Central Africa, I have found it difficult, out of so many 

 notes, to find the most interesting ; so I have given the 

 most recent, as they will give the sportsman a better idea 

 as to the conditions pertaining at the present day, though 

 the country has changed little since I first knew it in 1903 ; 

 and there are still hundreds of square miles that have 

 hardly ever been trodden by the foot of civilised man, and 

 there game will be found in abundance by anyone who 

 takes the trouble to go and look for it. 



This is a country where camping out causes little 

 hardship in the dry season, which is from May to December ; 

 and the three great essentials of camp life shade, fuel, and 

 water are plentiful, while native labour is cheap and- 

 abundant. The country has not yet been spoiled, as 

 British East Africa has been, by the influx of wealthy 

 sportsmen who have throw r n their money about without a 

 thought for those who may follow them. 



Besides giving a certain number of shooting experiences, 

 I give other information on licences, tracking, the natives 

 and other matters which may be of interest to my 

 readers, and if my ideas do not meet with approval, I 

 can only say that they are the thoughts of a single 

 individual, though I have tried not to let my pen run away 

 w T ith me when discussing any matter that may have 

 several sides. Perhaps the lonely life I have led for so 

 long in the silence of the bush is apt to make a man 

 dogmatical and opinionative ; but I like people who have 

 decided opinions, so I hope my reader will make allowances 

 if he does not agree with all I write. 





