2 LETTER FROM CAPT. J. H. SPEKE. [Jan. 13, 



under my command, — they are enumerated below, — and to request, as 

 noticed by my former letters, that you will have them kept in a sepa- 

 rate department of the Society's house for me until my return from 

 Africa, when Capt. Grant, my assistant, with myself, will be able to 

 explain the peculiarities of the various animals to you. This lot 

 includes, with those I first sent from Zanzibar, eight packages 

 in all. Most of them have been sent off in the greatest hurry, and 

 consequently without any arrangement, in the hands of passing tra- 

 vellers or caravans ; but as they have all been consigned to the care 

 of Mr. Frost, medical officer at Zanzibar, who has kindly offered to 

 officiate for me in sending such things to England, I have no doubt 

 but that they will reach you in very fair order for describing. They 

 affect to nothing else ; for it is next to impossible to stuff and take care 

 of animal-specimens properly when travelling with a large caravan, 

 destined for a long journey, and in constant motion. You must there- 

 fore take them as you find them, for the present ; but I hope they 

 will interest you sufficiently to direct your attention more particu- 

 larly to these regions ; for I am convinced in mind that the great 

 varieties of animal life, large and small, which are to be found here 

 would fully repay any trouble or expense in procuring, and the So- 

 ciety would do well if they could find competent men who would 

 voluntarily spend a few years in collecting them. By far the richest 

 fields for sport, or any kind of animal-collections, which have come 

 under my notice are the regions in and about the East Coast range, 

 but more particularly so near the Kingani and the "Wami Rivers, 

 where those streams issue from the range, and trend through beau- 

 tiful parks and forests. This part should be attended to first, as, 

 by being near the coast, transport would be easy, and the expenses 

 of living a mere trifle. 



"To give you some notion of the variety of larger animals which 

 have been observed by the East-African Expedition, I will enumerate 

 them, making notes, and even marks of interrogation, so (?), when I 

 feel in doubt about their identity : — 



" 1 . The Elephant {E. africanus) seems general everywhere in the 

 hills or plains. 



" 2. Rhinoceros. The only variety, from the coast to Ungamwezi, 

 which has been shot or seen is the common black Rhinoceros bi- 

 cornis of the south, — not the Ketloa ; but we hear of the White 

 Rhinoceros in the Karagwah Mountains to the north. 



" 3. Hippopotamus, general. 



" 4. Pig. This is a very peculiar animal. The boar has four tuber- 

 cles on the face ; but the sow has only two, on the point of the cheek- 

 bones below the eyes. I send sketches of them. Although we have 

 met this pig everywhere on the line of march, we have seen no other 

 variety. [This seems to be a species of Phacochoerus, — P. L. S.] 



"5. Giraffe, general. 



" 6. Zebra, general ; they make a kind of noise when excited, 

 something like a sheep trying to bleat vnth a bad cold and cough. 



" 7. Buffalo {Bos caffer), general. 



" 8. Eland {Oreas sp. ?). The only specimen shot was in the hill 



