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GIRAFFE HUNTING AND WILD 

 LIFE IN TROPICAL AFRICA. 



North of the tropical line of Capricorn, in South 

 Africa, particularly in the interior, and well away 

 from the sea-board, is to be found the best stocked 

 hunting country in the world. Some Indian sports- 

 men may dispute the correctness of this state- 

 ment, but I will give my reasons for considering it to 

 be so ; after having read them, possibly my Eastern 

 brothers may become converts to my way )f think- 

 ing. 



One thing I would say before proceeding further — 

 and may it act as a solatium to y/hat I have above 

 written — that the very best sportsmen with rifle, 

 horse, and spear that I have ever met, were officers 

 of our Indian Empire, or civilians that had made 

 that country their home. To mention the name of 

 one of these gentlemen would be invidious, for all 

 were prodigies, so I state without fear of contradic- 

 tion that I have seen a large boar — a regular fighting 

 and jinking devil — done to death by four subalterns, 

 all of whom were riding without a saddle, and only 

 a watering headstall and plain snaffle to guide their 

 mounts by. There are doubtless quite as good men 

 to be found in India now as heretofore, but I defy 

 it to produce better. I write of more than a quarter 

 of a century ago, and with all those in^'^rvening years 

 over my head, I often think what ma 2rial that was 

 to make light cavalry of, and no other country in the 



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