CHAPTER I 



EN ROUTE 



Many and various are the things that man sets 

 his heart upon. To become Prime Minister is one 

 man's ambition ; another would win the Derby 

 or the Melbourne Cup ; to hold a championship, 

 be it of croquet or boxing, or any other sport, is 

 sufficient for others. For my own part I have 

 always thought that to shoot a lion was something 

 quite worth doing. From earliest boyhood I had 

 longed to go lion hunting, and had read eagerly 

 every book on the subject that I could get hold of. 



In August 1913 I found at last that the oppor- 

 tunity for that expedition to Africa to which I 

 had for so long looked forward was mine. Many 

 of the cattle ranches under my management had 

 been sold, and having resigned my seat in our 

 Queensland State House, to contest a Federal 

 seat against the then Prime Minister, and suffer 

 defeat, I was free for a time from political duties. 



My desire was to get away from the common 

 routes of sportsmen, and therefore I determined 

 to try Portuguese West Africa, where, it was re- 

 corded, lions were numerous. I decided that the 



best plan was to travel as far north as I could 



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