134 IN AFRICA 



caped with only a few bones broken; although he 

 was laid up for five weeks. Ashton and Black did 

 not have much luck in the present trip and failed to 

 get a single lion. 



Two Spaniards passed our camp one day, in- 

 ward bound. They were the Duke of Penaranda 

 and Sr. de la Huerta, and reported no lions during 

 their few days in the district. Prince Lichtenstein 

 was also somewhere on the plateau, but we didn't 

 run across him. In addition to these three parties 

 and ours, the only other expedition in the Guas 

 Ngishu Plateau was Colonel Roosevelt's party, 

 toward which, by previous agreement, we made our 

 way. 



A number of months before Mr. Akeley, who 

 headed our party, was dining with President Roose- 

 velt at the White House. In the course of their talk, 

 which was about Africa and Mr. Akeley's former 

 African hunting and collecting experiences, the 

 latter had told the president about a group of ele- 

 phants that he was going to collect and mount for 

 the American Museum of History in New York. 

 President Roosevelt was asked if he would cooper- 

 ate in the work, and he expressed a keen willingness 

 to do so. When our party arrived at Nairobi, in 

 September, a letter awaited Mr. Akeley, renewing 

 Colonel Roosevelt's desire to help in collecting the 

 group. 



It was in answer to this invitation that Mr. Ake- 

 ley and our party had gone to the Mount Elgon 

 country to meet Mr. Roosevelt and carry out the 



