XIV INTRODUCTION. 



noimced me competent for a commission in the Engineers, I found 

 myself at the early age of sixteen, an officer of that distinguished 

 Corps in Western India ; one of the not least valued of my distinc- 

 tions being the possession of a rifle, before the deadly grooves of 

 which a kite had but little chance at one hundred and fifty yards. 

 Armed with this weapon, I had ample opportunities of indulging 

 in my favourite pursuits, and may safely affirm, that during many 

 years I enjoyed ball-practice in perfection. 



But whilst silently stealing on the recent tracks of the " antlered 

 monarch of the waste,^' or perseveringly stalking a stately buck — 

 whilst urging my elephant to his utmost speed in pursuit of a re- 

 treating tiger, or contemplating with delight the grizzly figure of a 

 prostrate lion — how frequently did my thoughts wander to the 

 wilds of Africa, the tales of sport connected with which had oft- 

 times reached my years, and how impatiently did I long to make 

 the acquaintance of her motley group of four-footed denizens. As 

 a boy well do I remember copying and re-copying Bewick's eccen- 

 tric figure of the gnoo, when I could barely hold a pencil ; and 

 often in my dreams, did I see, now at the extremity of a long vista 

 of years, that inter\'ened betwixt me and my furlough, the slender 

 and swan-hke neck of the stately giraffe, bowing distantly to our 

 better acquaintance ; Behemoth, with his square and mii'th-exciting 

 snout protruded from the yellow waters of a vast river, acting the 

 part of master of the ceremonies ; whilst a host of rhinoceroses, sup- 

 ported by gigantic elephants, eccentrically horned antelopes, and 

 other fascinating strangers, awaited their turn of presentation with 

 evident impatience. 



With such strong impressions, it will easily be believed that I 

 scarcely regretted the sentence of a Bombay Medical Board, trans- 

 porting me for two years to the Cape of Good Hope ; and as this 

 was accompanied with a welcome recommendation to travel, I 

 made preparations, before quitting India, to penetrate into the 

 interior of Africa. It would be injustice to myself, however, to 

 leave an impression that sport was my only object — for both from 

 education and taste, I possessed an ardent desire to contribute my 

 mite to the Geography and Natural History of the countries I was 

 about to explore. 



