PREFACE ix 



thence to Mafekingand Matabeleland. Gradually I 

 worked my way up to Beira, from which I did some 

 promiscuous hunting, and afterwards travelled all 

 over Mashonaland. Next, I roved northwards to 

 British Central Africa and roamed the regions about 

 Lake Tanganyika and the Congo, subsequently 

 going to Portuguese East Africa (just ten years ago), 

 and, a couple of years later, to German East Africa, 

 where I have hunted up to the present day. 



During these years of wandering, I have done 

 many things to earn a living. I have, at times, 

 engaged in ' nigger bossing ' ; in recruiting niggers 

 and contracting for the Beira railway ; I have been 

 agent for various African trading companies ; I have 

 kept native stores ; and I have even been a prize- 

 fighter. None of these occupations, however, seemed 

 adequately to suit my nature, and I was still 

 uncertain as to what I should undertake as a means 

 of earning a livelihood, when I reached Portuguese 

 East Africa. It was there that I decided to become 

 an elephant hunter, and, practically speaking, I have 

 been on the spoor of the elephant ever since. My 

 adoption of this career was not entirely decided by 

 the question of pecuniary gain, for though I am not 

 poet or philosopher enough to affect a complete 

 indifference to the root of evil, my intense love of 

 sport was a more cogent factor in assisting me 

 to come to such a decision than any love of lucre. 



