THE SEFARI 25 



is not seeing one of the most beautiful and interesting 

 countries anywhere; and, third, is not real sefari life at all. 



Now it is of sefari life I want to write, and it is to 

 enable even an inexperienced sportsman to enjoy something 

 better than what usually passes for it, that I beg some pa- 

 tience for my seeming prolixity when I try to describe a 

 little of its interest and charm. Before I put foot in East 

 Africa, I did what I could to gain reliable information 

 as to what my sefari should consist of. How could I man- 

 age it ? How far march it ? etc., etc. One said leave 

 all to your "headman"; he will do everything. Well, the 

 first headman I had, though more than highly recommended, 

 and though armed with chits (testimonials) that if true 

 made him out too good for the job, had among a multitude 

 of other shortcomings one insuperable one he couldn't 

 walk and arrived at camping ground from one to four 

 hours after the sefari. 



Another said, "Hire a professional hunter and leave 

 everything in his hands." Elsewhere I speak strongly 

 of the value of a good professional hunter. If you want 

 to spend some time in a really interesting country, and kill 

 interesting and dangerous beasts, unless you have reason- 

 ably complete command both of your nerves and of your 

 weapon, you will be foolish not to secure such a man. 

 But I like doing things myself. I like to try to understand 

 the men by whose aid I alone can do them. 



So much for the general view of the case. And, next, 

 I don't like, as a rule, the Afrikander's views on natives 

 and native questions in this land, any more than I liked 

 the views of trappers and miners and settlers, on Indians 

 and Indian questions in our own land, when first I became 

 well acquainted with them many years ago. 



To feel the interest and charm of a new country, 

 you want to feel it not through the eye or ear alone but 

 surely through touch and knowledge (however necessarily 



