INTRODUCTION. 



As the reader who purposes to follow me through the 

 five adventurous years I spent in the untrodden wilds 

 of Southern Africa might like to know something of 

 my previous career, I shall briefly state that the early 

 portion of my life was spent in the county of Moray, 

 where a love of natural history and of sport early en- 

 gendered themselves, and became stronger and more 

 deeply rooted with my years. Salmon-fishing and roe- 

 stalking were my favorite amusements ; and, during 

 these early wanderings by wood and stream, the strong 

 love of sport and admiration of Nature in her wildest 

 and most attractive forms became with me an all-ab- 

 sorbing feeling, and my greatest possible enjoyment 

 was to pass whole days and many a summer night in 

 solitude, where, undisturbed, I might contemplate the 

 silent grandeur of the forest and the ever-varying beau- 

 ty of the scenes around. Long before I proceeded to 

 Eton I took pride in the goodly array of hunting tro- 

 phies which hung around my room. 



In 1839 I sailed for India, to join my regiment, the 

 4th Madras Light Cavalry. Touching at the Cape of 

 Good Hope, I had an opportunity of hunting several 

 of the smaller antelopes, and obtained a foretaste of the 

 splendid sport I was in after years so abundantly to en- 

 joy. In India I procured a great number of specimens 

 A2 



