PREFACE 



IN the following pages I have endeavoured to 

 give a plain account of the trials and adventures 

 which befell me on two recent expeditions through 

 the nyika, or wilderness, in British East Africa. 

 On the first trip there were three of us, and all 

 returned safely to civilization, although dangers were 

 not wholly absent. On the second and longer 

 expedition there were also three Europeans, but, 

 alas ! only two got back, the nyika having claimed 

 the third ; nor was the god of the wilds content with 

 this sacrifice, for, in addition, he claimed several of 

 my native followers. He laid his deadly grip on 

 me as well, but I was wrested from him by the care 

 and attention of my companion, to whose skilful 

 nursing I feel I owe my life. 



In relating the events of the journey I have 

 considered it incumbent on me, not only to tell the 

 exciting adventures among the wild men and wild 

 beasts of the regions traversed, but also to give some 

 of the more tiresome detail connected with a safari 

 in the nyika, as my object all through has been to 

 describe everything exactly as it actually happened. 



I trust that future travellers along the route taken 

 by me will find my maps of some use. I made 

 them as accurate as possible under somewhat trying 

 circumstances, and they are reproduced in eight 



