io6 THE LAND OF THE LION 



of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Quebec. So I have 

 had some experience in hunting. But African hunting is 

 a thing apart. It differs from all other forms of sport. 

 You may, with good reason, believe yourself capable of 

 holding your own in the Rockies or the Alps, and yet you 

 may find yourself unsuccessful or only moderately successful 

 here. My first trip to the country was unsatisfactory to 

 me. Though I was a fair shot, and capable of standing 

 pretty well the fatigue of a long day in the sun, I didn't 

 get what I hoped to get. I was confused with the great 

 variety of game, and couldn't tell a good head from a poor 

 one. I did not understand the make-up of a sefari, and 

 had no idea at all of how much one's comfort depends on 

 getting together before leaving the starting place such 

 men as shall make the expedition successful. I could 

 see my trophies well attended to while in America, but 

 African trophies and African climate are so utterly differ- 

 ent that experience gained in other lands is here of slight 

 value. I had not one single man that could hunt, or knew 

 anything about the habits of the game. One of my gun- 

 boys' feet gave out, owing to his insisting on a foolish 

 habit they have of wearing a wretched sham ammunition 

 boot, served out to sefaris at Nairobi, which, by the way, 

 an immutable custom obliges you to give to your tentboys 

 and gunbearers. The other was an utter coward. I 

 tried, too, to march all day, and hunt in the afternoon 

 and evening, a great mistake always. And last, but not 

 least, I knew really nothing of the country. 



These ignorances I have enumerated are, as anyone 

 can see, sufficiently serious, but I am sure that very few 

 ever coming for the first time to Africa, know even as 

 much about the country of their hope, as I did. 



How then, you may say, do any first trips succeed even 

 measurably ? 



In the first place, a great majority do not succeed. 



