AFRICA— SOUTH AND EAST 5 



or beauty, ever penetrated minds debased by decades of 

 slangliter. Game was nothing more than a target ; 

 after that, biltong, reims, and so on. 



In the south no remedy will now avail. Over vast 

 areas, formerly abounding in game, it is too late, though 

 in the Transvaal a praiseworthy effort is being made by 

 the establishment of a " Game Reserve" in the Lebombo 

 bush- veld. ^ 



In British East Africa the contrast is striking; and 

 welcome. The game, though wild and alert as the 

 desert-born will ever be, here retains its pristine nobility 

 and self-jDossession ; it is not merely the harassed and 

 terror-stricken remnant of devastated herds. 



Our own initial experience in East Africa was un- 



J. 



fortunate ; for within three days of reaching Nairobi the 

 author succumbed to malarial fever. With reluctance is 

 so purely personal a matter here mentioned, and only 

 because it is essential to the narrative — and besides, the 

 incident may serve to save others from a like ill, so 

 simply contracted, so easily avoided. 



Landing at Mombasa tw^enty days after leaving 

 London, one may reckon on at least a day or two's 

 delay at the terminal port while arranging the final 

 equipment of the expedition. Now Mombasa, lying 

 under the ecjuator, is distinctly hot. There are hotter 

 places — Aden, for example ; but at both sea-breezes 

 temper the sun, or are said to do so. However that 

 may be, at any rate when the up-country train finally 

 steams out of the station, the very last thing on earth 

 one is likely to think of as a necessary — and hundreds 

 of articles are necessary for a three-months' sojourn 

 under canvas — at that melting moment, as suggested, 

 the very last desiderata one thinks of are warm WTaps, 

 ulsters and blankets. The mere idea is repugnant. 



^ This is a region expressly adapted by natui'e for such a pur- 

 pose, and practically useless for any other. Owing to its low-ljing 

 situation, reeking "with malaria, it is uninhabitable by human kind, 

 white or black, except only during the dry winter months — June to 

 October. Thirty or forty years ago it abounded with big game of 

 every kind, from elephants downwards. 



