278 ON SAFARI 



However, I must get tlie rifle loosed off this year. It 

 doesn't do to keep a weapon tliat (they say) will drive 

 through twenty-four inches of solid oak, eating its 

 head off." 



In a later note: — "Yes, I undertake to see after 

 getting the necessary medical stores, etc., but hardly 

 understand what ' special remedies ' you refer to — if by 

 ' horn-pricks ' you mean a hoist by a rhino, the only 

 useful article I can suggest is an oak suit with brass 

 mounts." 



Well, since then we have twice experienced in actual 

 practice the true degree of all these foreboded risks and 

 ills. The tropical heats, the mountain-forest, the mala- 

 rial breeze, the savage beasts and the subtle — we 

 encountered them all, and under a gracious Providence, 

 have not recjuired the brass-bound suit. 



We encountered, nevertheless, during two com- 

 paratively short expeditions (and outside all such risks 

 as fever and the like), several instances of tangible danger 

 from wild beasts, as hereinbefore recorded. 



II. Danger 



What degree of danger is there encountered in 

 African hunting? Many who have not had practical 

 experience, and whose knowledge is confined to reading, 

 are apt to exaggerate it. On the other hand, those 

 who know, perhaps minimise the contingent risks partly 

 through a fear that they may be suspected of extolling 

 their own exploits or personal courage. Then there is 

 that third section — those who do not survive to tell the 

 tale. And one cannot spend much time in Africa with- 

 out being surprised at the number of " accidents " — 

 many of them fatal accidents — that are always occurring, 

 and of w^hich no word reaches home. The casual 

 wanderer, the adventurous spirits of the hinterland, 

 these meet sudden deaths — or die of wounds or gangrene 

 — and no record remains. 



My own impression tends to the belief that there is, 



