INTRODUCTORY 9 



within half-gunshot ; in proof whereof I have sketched all 

 these and even the roan (shockingly badly, it is true), 

 close at hand, yet wholly unconscious of my presence. 



New countries present new sensations. The hunter at 

 first is beset with surprises. Much of the big-game of 

 Sudan is associated in his mind with the co-existence of 

 several other kindred species ; but here the latter are 

 lacking. In vain his eye scans Nilotic plain for the 

 shaggy figure of the brindled gnu, or for its customary pal 

 the zebra. Why are they absent? Again, in these 

 forests of Sudan he might reasonably expect to find the 

 noble sable, with impala on their outskirts. But no ; for 

 some inscrutable reason the four familiar friends just 

 named all elect to stop short, somewhere down by the 

 Equator. The Sudan they utterly eschew, though its 

 forests and veld appear precisely adapted to their require- 

 ments, and just such country as they love further south. 



Geographical distribution presents a series of enigmas, 

 and the principles that govern it are steeped in mystery. 

 Certain animal-forms persist practically throughout the 

 length of Africa. Others, though of precisely similar 

 tastes, arbitrarily limit their range within rigid bounds, 

 though neither palpable cause nor physical barrier exists. 

 In those regions where the range of the two groups 

 coincide, both sets live alongside and even herd together. 

 Obviously they are not antagonistic, socially or economic- 

 ally. Their habits and requirements agree. Why do 

 their ranges differ ? The total absence from the Sudan of 

 several species which logically ought to inhabit it is 

 striking almost speechful. Witness the four cited the 

 gnu, impala, sable, and zebra ; and many more might be 

 mentioned. 



A majority of the African game-animals (especially the 

 antelopes) unquestionably affect the Southern Hemisphere 

 and presumably sprang therefrom, though many have 

 extended their range northwards till stopped in mid- 

 Sudan by the barrier of Sahara. On the other hand, 



