66 IN AFRICA 



among strange and savage people, in strange and 

 savage lands, and always threatened by strange and 

 savage animals. The life is new and the scenery 

 new. There is adventure and novelty in every day 

 of such a life, and it is that phase of it that has 

 the most insistent appeal. It is the call of the wild 

 to which the pre- Adamite monkey in our nature 

 responds. 



Even if one never used his rifle one would still 

 enjoy life on safari. Safari is an Arabic word 

 meaning expedition as it is understood in that coun- 

 try. If you go on any sort of a trip you are on 

 safari. It need not be a shooting trip. 



Of course everybody who has read the magazines 

 of the last year has been more or less familiarized 

 with African hunting. He has read of the amount 

 of game that the authors have killed and of the nar- 

 row escapes that they have had. 



He also has read about expeditions into districts 

 with strange names, but naturally these names have 

 meant nothing to him. I know that I read reams 

 of African stuff about big game shooting and 

 about safari, yet in spite of all that, I remained 

 in the dark as to many details of such a life. I 

 wanted to know what kind of money or trade stuff 

 the hunter carried ; what sort of things he had to eat 

 each day ; what he wore, and how he got from place 

 to place. Most writers have a way of saying: "We 

 equipped our safari in Nairobi and made seven 

 marches to such and such a place, where we ran into 

 some excellent eland." All the important small de- 



