RODENTS 245 



rats, prominent among which are the common 

 black variety, a bush rat, two or three ground rats, 

 a long-tailed cane rat as large as a good-sized 

 rabbit, two hares, and about six different squirrels, 

 one of which is of such remarkably brilliant colour- 

 ing that I think it must be the Scirius lucifer. 

 Among the lower sub-orders of the Ungulata, I am 

 only aware of one rabbit, which T believe to be 

 Bruce's Hyrax. 



From the foregoing formidable list it will be at 

 once evident that in those natural fastnesses to 

 which the game beasts' arch-enemy man can still 

 penetrate only at the cost of considerable time, 

 trouble, and expense, the more important African 

 mammals are still fairly numerous both in numbers 

 and varieties ; and before proceeding to describe 

 them in greater detail, I shall once more add to 

 the many I have already expressed, an earnest 

 hope that steps may be taken ere long to protect 

 these beautiful and interesting creatures from that 

 senseless, indiscriminate slaughter which has for so 

 many years been permitted to decimate their 

 former countless numbers, to reduce certain families 

 to the verge of extinction, and to remove from vast 

 areas of the continent of Africa a charm which can 

 never be replaced. 



As I have just stated. Elephants are not un- 

 common. They must have existed a few decades 

 ago in considerable numbers, but as the original 

 primitive means of transport on the river gave 

 place to steam, and more and more settlers began 

 to arrive, the great herds were either killed off by 

 native hunters in the employ of Europeans, or 



