THE WILD FAUNA OP THE EMPIRE 



wo think necessary measures. To this plea we point out that the 

 nation has spent approximately six million pounds on the Uganda 

 Railway. Those who expect a commercial return on this are 

 probably sanguine. The money was spent, and rightly spent, for 

 Imperial reasons, such as the protection of the Nile water-way 

 and the abolition of slavery. Por these objects the nation is 

 paying a perpetual interest of nearly £'200,000 a year. Is not 

 the preservation of animal life, of which Nature has been so 

 lavish in these regions, also an Imperial object ? Is nothing due 

 to this inheritance of the Empire ? Can we not afford to spend, 

 say, one-hundredth part, or .£,'2,000 a year, to preserve our gifts in 

 this respect ? In the Transvaal, where it is almost too late, the 

 authorities are spending at least twice as much to preserve the 

 remnants of a fauna which was once abundant, but which was 

 squandered. They have learnt its value, but all too late to save 

 it, except at a disproportionate expenditure. Now in British East 

 Africa we pay the salary of a single game officer, but what can he 

 do alone in such a territory? He should have at least two 

 assistants, besides watchers, in the Reserve. 



Although pur function is to watch for the safety of the fauna of 

 the Empire, we may occasionally derive useful lessons from the 

 experience of other nations. The Yellowstone National Park, in 

 the United States, was the forerunner of true Game Reserves, of 

 which the American nation and its President may well be proud. 

 The report of the Commandant recently received raises questions 

 which are well worthy of attention. The Park comprises about 

 5,000 square miles, but it is admittedly not extensive enough to 

 cover the winter migration of some of the species. Valleys of a low 

 elevation to the East and South, to which the wapiti and other 

 species resort in the winter, and which were entirely free of white 

 settlers twenty years ago, are now occupied, and the difficulty of 

 an extension is greatly increased. This affords a lesson which it 

 is most desirable for us to take to heart. 



Then, again, the wild herd of buffalo still at large within the 

 Reserve is described as decadent, so much so that an attempt is 

 being made to catch up the calves to turn them in with the tame 

 herd which is kept within an enclosure. This is a sad end to 

 a noble free ranging animal, and it carries its lesson for us. If 

 a species is once allowed to be reduced to a single small herd, its 

 vitality is quickly lowered by in-and-in breeding, and its ultimate 

 total destruction is highly probable. 



This is not the place' for elaborate criticisms of books, but it 

 may be permissible to note two which are of especial interest to 

 our members. Sir Charles Eliot's ' East African Protectorate '_ is 

 a singularly complete account of the history and present condition 

 of the Provinces comprising that interesting part of the Empire, 

 as well as of the difficulties which face its administrators. We 

 are chiefly concerned with his remarks on the means which have 

 !>eon adopted to preserve the animals. These are, perhaps, the 

 more interesting, as he writes as one outside the fraternity of 



