CHAPTER V 



MY FIRST EXPEDITION TO BRITISH EAST AFRICA 



My friend, Mr. W. B. M. Bird, had arranged to 

 shoot in East Africa in the early part of the year 

 1906, and had asked Mr. A. Wood to accompany 

 him on the expedition ; and, as I was proceeding 

 to England on furlough in the autumn of 1905, 

 Mr. Bird kindly invited me to join the party, 

 and the invitation was very readily accepted. 

 We left England shortly after Christmas 1905, 

 and arrived at Mombassa in East Africa on the 

 13th January, 1906. 



The case containing Bird's rifles and shot-gun 

 had been sent by mistake to Beira ; and for some 

 weeks Bird was obliged to shoot with borrowed 

 rifles. All the other cases containing our outfit 

 and stores arrived safely, and the itiishap was 

 therefore particularly annoying. 



My battery consisted of a D.B. '450 cordite 

 rifle and a Rigby-Mauser magazine rifle, which 

 I purchased from John Rigby & Co. for the 

 occasion; and with the Rigby-Mauser I had a 

 telescope-sight, but this got out of order after 

 a few weeks' shooting. 



Bird had employed Mr. Judd, an experienced 

 elephant-hunter, to engage gun-bearers, servants, 

 and porters, and make the necessary preliminary 



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