FOREWORD 



CINCE 1913 great changes have taken place in the 

 Big Game World. In particular does this apply to 

 Africa, where animal life is disappearing at a rate that 

 would astonish the most casual observer. 



Last year I travelled from Cape Colony right up 

 into the Congo, and although I was on the look-out all 

 the way, did not see half a dozen animals throughout 

 a journey of hundreds of miles. Only a few years ago 

 this experience would have been impossible. Then 

 eland, oryx and many other specie s of game abounded ; 

 but wanton destruction has worked such pitiful havoc 

 in the ranks of these interesting creatures that the 

 naturalist may make a journey from Cape Town to 

 Kimberley without seeing a single specimen, and is 

 reduced to the unsatisfactory expedient of gathering 

 all the information he can from ancient carvings (the 

 work of unknown bushmen) on some rocks near 

 Kimberley, or stuffed specimens in Museums. 



Fifteen years ago I journeyed from Mombasa to 

 Nairobi, and was so excited that I could not sit still, 

 for on both sides of the railway right up to within fifty 



13 



