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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



aroused to anger. Their strength is pro- 

 digious. "They work vast havoc among 

 the young or small growth of a forest, 

 and the readiness with which they up- 

 root, overturn, or break off medium- 

 sized trees conveys a striking impression 

 of their enormous strength. I have seen 

 a tree a foot in diameter thus uprooted 

 and overturned." 



The elephant formerly wandered freely 

 over the plains, but, learning some years 

 ago that the open country was becoming 

 dangerous, owing to the advent of the 

 white man and his rifle, he took to the 

 forests and can now be found only after 

 days of fatiguing pursuit in the thickest 

 woods. There is no danger, says Mr 

 Roosevelt, that this magnificent animal 

 will become extinct, because large ele- 

 phant reserves have been established ; 

 and, furthermore, wise regulations have 

 been adopted and are being enforced, 

 such as prohibiting the sale of tusks be- 

 low a certain size, the shooting of fe- 

 males except for museums, etc. 



Not the least interesting portions of 

 Mr Roosevelt's narrative are his descrip- 

 tions of the small mammals, birds, and 

 the ants, bees, and deadly flies and ticks. 



The dreaded driver ants "are carnivo- 

 rous ; I have seen both red and black 

 species. They kill every living thing in 

 their path, and I have known them at 

 night drive all the men in a camp out 

 into the jungle to fight the mosquitoes 

 unprotected until daylight. On another 

 occasion, where a steamboat was moored 

 close to a bank, an ant column entered 

 the boat after nightfall and kept com- 

 plete possession of it for 48 hours. Fires 

 and boiling water offer the only effectual 

 means of resistance. The bees are at 

 times as formidable ; when their nests 

 are disturbed they will attack every one 

 in sight, driving all the crew of a boat 

 overboard or scattering a safari, and not 

 infrequently killing men and beasts of 

 burden that are unable to reach some 

 place of safety." 



Among the first specimens obtained 

 were a cow and bull of the ugly wilde- 

 beest. "They were covered with ticks, 

 especially wherever the skin was bare. 



Around the eyes the loathsome creatures 

 swarmed so as to make complete rims 

 like spectacles, and in the armpits and 

 the groin they were massed so that they 

 looked like barnacles on an old boat. It 

 is astonishing that the game should mind 

 them so little. The wildebeest evidently 

 dreaded far more the biting flies which 

 hung around them, and the maggots of 

 the bot-flies in their nostrils must have 

 been a sore torment. Nature is merci- 

 less, indeed." 



Few of the many millions of Ameri- 

 cans who in coming years will admire 

 and profit from the splendid series of 

 specimens of African big game obtained 

 by Mr Roosevelt for our National Mu- 

 seum have any conception of the im- 

 mense physical labor, the careful plan- 

 ning, and extensive preparations required 

 to secure this complete collection. As an 

 instance of the labor involved, we men- 

 tion the hunt for the giant eland, the 

 largest and handsomest and one of the 

 least known of African antelopes, de- 

 scribed in the last chapter of the book 

 "Down the Nile." This giant antelope 

 with its powerful horns easily breaks off 

 branches two or three inches in diameter 

 and seven or eight feet from the ground 

 to get at the leaves and bean-pods of the 

 tree which forms its favorite food. 



This task involved an 8-days' trip from 

 Gondokoro through a hard, dry, barren 

 country and in temperatures of 112 de- 

 grees in the shade at noon. Kermit was 

 the only white man to accompany Mr 

 Roosevelt, as all the other white men of 

 the party were down with dysentery or 

 fever. 



"It took me three days' work before I 

 got my eland. Each day I left camp be- 

 fore sunrise, and on the first two I came 

 back after dark, while it always hap- 

 pened that at noon we were on a trail 

 and could not stop. . . . On the third 

 day we found the spoor of a single bull 

 by 8 o'clock. Hour after hour went by 

 while the gun-bearers, even more eager 

 than weary, puzzled out the trail. At 

 half past 12 we knew we were close on 

 the beast, and immediately afterward 

 caught a glimpse of it. Taking advan- 



