THE WILD FAUNA OF THE EMPIEE 79 



A EECENT PUBLICATION. 



' The Man-eaters of Tsavo.' 



Most readers of the Journal have probably heard of the man- 

 eating lions who exercised a reign of terror which lasted for several 

 months and seriously impeded the construction of the railway in 

 British East Africa. A full account of their doings and the methods 

 by which they were finally destroyed has now been published by 

 Colonel Patterson, and the story is of absorbing interest. The book 

 (* The Man-eaters of Tsavo,' by Lieut. -Colonel J. H. Patterson, 

 D.S.O. With a foreword by F. C. Selous. Macmillan & Co.) is 

 one that should be read by all who are interested in big game, 

 for the account which Colonel Patterson gives would be almost 

 incredible were the veracity of the writer not unimpeachable. 

 Much of interest will also be found on British East Africa, on the 

 construction of the railway, on the natives, and on shooting. We 

 cannot do better than quote a passage from Mr. Salous's preface : 

 * From the time of Herodotus until to-day lion stories innumerable 

 have been told and written. I have put some on record myself. 

 Bat no lion story I have ever heard or read equals in its long-sus- 

 stained and dramatic interest the story of the Tsavo man-eaters as 

 told by Colonel Patterson. A lion story is usually a tale of adven- 

 tures, often very terrible and pathetic, which occupied but a few 

 hours of one night ; but the tale of the Tsavo man-eaters is an epic 

 of terrible tragedies spread over several months, and only at last 

 brought to an end by the resource and determination of one man. 

 It was some years after I read the first account published of the 

 Tsavo man-eaters that I made the acquaintance of President Eoose- 

 velt. I told him all I remembered about it, and he was so deeply 

 interested in the story — as he is in all true stories of the nature 

 and characteristics of wild animals — that he begged me to send 

 him the short printed account as published in the Field. This 

 I did; and it was only in the last letter I received from him that, 

 referring to this story, President Eoosevelt wrote : " I think that 

 the incident of the Uganda man-eating lions, described in those 

 two articles you sent me, is the most remarkable account of which 

 we have any record. It is a great pity that it should not be pre- 

 served in permanent form." ' In recommending Colonel Patter- 

 son's plain, modest, and straightforward account of his unique ad- 

 ventures, one may add that there is not a word of exaggeration in the 

 praise bestowed upon his book by Mr. Selous and President Eoose- 

 velt. No one who reads it can be disappointed, and he must be 

 cold-blooded indeed who does not feel a thrill of exultation when 

 the two man-eaters are finally destroyed. 



LONDON : EDWAED STANFORD, 12, 13, & 14, LONG ACEE, W.C. 



