In Wildest Africa -^ 



We preserve with punctilious precision every vestige of 

 the art of the past. The older the documents of earlier 

 historic times are, the more eagerly they are coveted, the 

 more highly they are valued. Our collectors gladly pay 

 the largest sums for an old papyrus, an old picture, an 

 object of decorative art, or a marble statue. And, as has 

 been rightly remarked, what warrant have we that some 

 new Phidias, some new Michael Angelo, some new Praxi- 

 teles will not arise, and give us something of as high value 

 as these, or even much more perfect ? Unreservedly to 

 deny this would be the same thing as to give the lie to 

 the progress of the human race. 



But the same man who, in this respect, acts so rever- 

 ently, so conservatively, looks on with folded arms while 

 treasures are destroyed that ought to be guarded with 

 special affection and care, in these times when the great 

 value of all natural science is so fully recognised.^ 



^ While this book is passing through the press several correspondents 

 have sent me an article published by Freiherr von Schrotter-Wohnsdorf in 

 the Monatsheften des Allgemeinen Deutschen Jagdschutzvereins of August 24th, 

 1906. According to this article, during the year 1906, by ministerial orders, 

 in four of the chief forest districts of East Prussia, sixty-seven head of ivild 

 elk were killed off, though hitherto the few remaining living specimens 

 of the elk have been so carefully preserved both on public and private 

 estates. This thorough-going course was adopted for the sake of the 

 preservation of the woods from damage by the animals. That this should 

 have been done in the case of a disappearing species of wild animal, 

 hitherto so carefully preserved, and of which private individuals were 

 allowed to shoot only male specimens, is in open contradiction with those 

 views as to the necessity of protecting the rarer beauties of nature, which 

 are making such progress every day. It seems therefore fitting that I 

 should note the fact here as showing how well grounded is my opinion that 

 the progress of civilised culture is destructive to those treasures of nature 

 that have come down to us from primeval times. 



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