1 ntroduction — continued 



vanities. On the whole he seems to have resem- 

 bled most the owl with his keen observant eyes, 

 but he was not quite so nocturnal, in as much 

 as he also stole about by day preying on locusts, 

 toads and lizards. 



Altogether asocial he flitted about by himself 

 and obviously preferred a type of hunting ground 

 that other birds despised. To the casual observer 

 there is no sustenance at all to be derived from 

 the bare rocks on which he liked to scratch about. 

 He, however, extracted from them quite a rich 

 diet of that hard gritty matter without which even 

 human birds cannot digest their softer pabulum. 

 At times also he soared majestically into the high 

 heavens, surveying all things in the sky above and 

 everything on the earth below him, and hovering 

 hazily there I intend now to leave him and proceed 

 with my study of his habits. 



This I can do the more readily, seeing that a 

 pen of greyer steel has already sketched out a 

 close-up view of this strange bird. With a few 

 deft strokes a master-hand has limned the lights 

 and shown the shadows in the life of this extra- 

 ordinary man. All that I need now do is to fill 

 in the detail. I am very grateful to General Smuts 

 for the kindly way in which he has thus illuminated 

 and graced my pages. He has done more, for by 

 paying a generous tribute to the work and character 



xi 



B 



