34 



NATURE 



[May 9, 1907 



\ 



I 

 I 



Latin and in tlie vtrnacular, of beasts and birds are 

 constantly disfigured by printers' errors of a childish 

 description. 



So far back as 1890 a movement began in Great 

 Britain in favour of preserving wild life in lands 

 under British control rather than allowing it to be 

 exterminated by ruthless shooters. To some e.\terlt 

 this movement was inspired from the United States. 

 The creation of the National Park of the Yellow- 

 stone district, which was to lead to the formation of a 

 " paradise " for the nearly extinct bison, bears, 

 prongbuck, deer, and wolves of central North 

 America, suggested to several sportsmen-naturalists 

 of Great Britain similar preserves in tropical lands, 

 especially in .Africa. Of course, long antecedent to 

 that, British naturalists had at last induced the .State 

 to legislate for the preservation of the scanty remains 

 of the British fauna, and although our measures in 

 this respect are still woefully inadequate, and a 

 limited and old-fashioned class is allowed to push 

 certain forms of sport at the expense of the wild 

 fauna of these islands, still we have saved much ; 

 and in some districts of Great Britain birds and the 

 smaller mammals really form constant and charming 

 features in the landscape. 



The great invasion of .Africa, however, which 

 began in earnest in i8qo, directed public attention to 

 the coincident slaughter of big game which every- 

 where accompanied the pioneering parties of the 

 British. Just as Great Britain had been the greatest 

 sinner in the slave trade, and was consequently the 

 greatest and most enthusiastic among abolitionist 

 nations, so her people, having gone far beyond any 

 other nationality in the destruction of wild beasts 

 and birds, are now foremost (though the United 

 States is running almost neck and neck) in the 

 world-movement for the preservation from extinction 

 of all but the most harmful animals. \\"e are rapidly 

 appreciating the principle that just as " man does 

 not live by bread alone," so we cannot be contented 

 jestheticallv with beef, mutton, poultry and pheasants, 

 with cereals, tubers and cabbages, but that to com- 

 plete the interest of our lives we must have beautiful 

 wild things around us to admire and study ; there 

 must be a niche in our society for the rhinoceros, the 

 lion, the tiger, and even the wolf. The hippopotamus 

 and the walrus cannot be allowed to die out com- 

 pletely, still less the elephant. With improved 

 methods of travel and rapid sea transit, we want to 

 be able to contemplate birds of paradise, alive and 

 well, in their N'ev\- Guinea setting, and not see them 

 in women's hats. .\ flock of flamingoes should be 

 looked upon as a commercial asset of real value in 

 Mediterranean lagoons or on \^'est Indian beaches. 



The leaders of this movement in Great Britain 

 were mostly of the " converted-burglar " type — men 

 like Selous, E. N. Buxton. .\Ifred Sharpe, and Lord 

 Delaniere — who, having had glorious sport with the 

 rifle and killed specimens of all the great or rare 

 beasts of .Africa from north to south, had gradually 

 transferred their interest from the mere passion of 

 pursuing and killing to the contemplation of life- 

 habits, to the study of the living animal. Photo- 

 graphy — especially with the telephotographic lens — 

 was a potent agent in their reformation. Mr. E. N. 

 Buxton especially has grown to grace, and led others 

 with him up the pilgrims' way, through the new 

 sport of snapshotting. .An unconscious disciple of 

 Mr. Buxton's has been Herr Schillings, whose 

 beautiful study of wild life in East .Africa (" With 

 Flashlight and Rifle ") has done much to advance 

 the cause of game preservation in those regions. .A 

 very great share, however, in this important move- 

 ment has been taken — perhaps unknown to the 

 author himself — by Mr. J. G. Alillais His book, " .A 



NO. 1958, VOL. 76] 



Breath from the \eldt," published in 1895, was an 

 epoch-making work. Many date their conversion to 

 the new gospel from the days in which they first 

 studied Mr. .Slillais's work. Though a sportsman of 

 the truest type (and sport in this sense means far more 

 than mere accurate shooting with rifle or gun), Mr. 

 .Millais realised himself, and taught those who gazed 

 .'It his pictures, that it was far more profitable to our 

 enjoyment and educ.ition to walcli living creatures 

 alive and study their habits with accuracy than to 

 kill them and stuff their dead bodies. 



How far the official world is in earnest about big- 

 game preservation — in our own or any other Govern- 

 ments — it is difficult to say, there being .so much 

 humbug about the attitude of all Governments 

 towards questions of art, science, and morals. 

 Officialdom, as represented by Ministers that come 

 and go, has taken a certain amount of tepid interest 

 in the preservation of the .African fauna. Some of 

 the permanent officials (as distinguished from the 

 parliament.-iry), like Sir Clement Hill, have displayed 

 a prai.seworthy persistency in pressing this matter on 

 the attention of Secretaries of State, (jovcrnors of 

 Colonies, and Commissioners of Protectorates. Sir 

 John Kirk and the late Herr von W'issmann worked 

 hard in the same direction. Sir Charles Eliot during 

 his Commissionership in East .Africa gave practical 

 effect to regulations which had sometimes fallen into 

 abeyance; the writer of this review (together with 

 Sir .Alfred Sharpe) between the years 1892 and 1901 

 created a number of game reserves in British Central-, 

 British East Africa, and Uganda, the reserves rang- 

 ing from an area of thirty to several thousand square 

 miles in extent. 



The policy of " game reserves " has been called 

 much into question at different times by .settlers and 

 tourists. .Settlers in regions adjoining these reserves 

 complain- that the wild game harbours the tsetse-fly, 

 or that -lions and leopards stray froni the area of the 

 reserve and become dangerous to the inhabited 

 regions outside. Tourists, especially those who are 

 naturalists and judicious sportsmen, coi-fiplain that 

 the " gai-rie reserve " (at any rate in Somaliland and 

 parts of the Sudan) simply becomes a " game pre- 

 serve " for the military oflicers on duty in those 

 regions. On the other hand, if there is no special 

 "national park," "paradise," or region set apart 

 for the unfettered existence of wild beasts and birds, 

 then, as .Africa becomes opened up, an almost com- 

 plete destruction of wild life ensues. Regulations 

 may be framed and printed, but to .-ittempt rigidly 

 to enforce them is to incur const.uit friction, and 

 even serious trouble, with Europeans and natives, 

 both of whorn are more or less retkless about 

 " shooting for the pot " or destroying any creature 

 that may threaten their crops or livestock. It has 

 seemed to the present writer that the only real solu- 

 tion of this difficulty is to create and enforce game 

 reserves — to set aside relatively large areas here and 

 there in .Africa which are not particularly well 

 adapted for cultivation or settlement, but which may 

 nevertheless offer features of great picturesqueness 

 or interest, and thus becoi-i-ie national parks where 

 live creatures of every description are allowed to lead 

 an unfettered life. But, naturally, in creating these 

 game reserves the writer has not intended that their 

 sanctity .should be infringed by anyone with a gun — 

 official or non-otlicial. Many specially protected 

 beasts or specially reserved areas are relieved of pro- 

 tection when a very distinguished or influential 

 applicant applies for exemption from the regulations. 

 The present writer would have the sanctity of these 

 reserves rigidly adhered to; on the other hand, he 

 would not attempt to enforce too drastically the pre- 

 scrv.-ttion of game in the settled districts outside the 



