INTRODUCTION xvii 



ridden and walked more than five thousand miles, I really 

 think I have some knowledge that is not without its value 

 about the country the best place to go for certain sorts 

 of game; the most beautiful and healthy parts of it; 

 the sort of sefari to gather round you, and how to control 

 and manage it, so that your men are contented and happy, 

 and the days passed with your black folk are a pleasure 

 to both yourself and them, and not what, unfortunately, 

 they too often are when ignorant or thoughtless sports- 

 men hurry their men from point to point, misunderstanding 

 and dislike increasing as they go. I have learned, too, a good 

 deal about African hunting; how it should be done to-day, 

 and that, I can assure my reader, even if he has hunted 

 as I have, in a great many different places, takes care and 

 time African big game hunting is quite unlike any other. 



These things that I have learned and seen, I have not 

 been able, as I say, to find in any book, or gain from any 

 sportsman. That may have been my fault or my mis- 

 fortune, but the fact remains. I have therefore resolved 

 to publish the record of them, being confident that there 

 are others who may wish to visit this beautiful country, 

 and who need to gain all the information they can before 

 doing so. Much time and expense are saved to the man 

 who knows what he wants to do, and has at least some idea 

 of how he intends to do it. 



Some may, I fear, think that I have overburdened my 

 story with detail; items of outfit; measurements of animals; 

 distances at which shots were made; description, or, 

 rather, attempts at description of scenery; or notes on the 

 habits of little known beasts and birds. All I can say is 

 that I do as I would be done by, and to the best of a poor 

 ability put down for others what I wish heartily someone 

 lse had put down for me. 



But when I have said all this, I have not yet mentioned 

 my strongest reason for publishing anything about Africa. 



