XXIV 
BIG GAME SHOOTING 
239 
than any form of plain hunting. Lastly, there remain 
the hot, inhospitable, waterless, and unhealthy 
portions of the Protectorate, areas which are unlikely 
for very many years to be taken up and settled and 
which form a very considerable proportion of the 
whole Protectorate. Here among the thorns and 
sand many such species as elephant, rhino, giraffe, 
eland, oryx, gerenuk, Grants gazelle and kudu will 
indefinitely afford sport for those who are prepared to 
pay the price in work, sweat, and discomfort. Here, 
too, will be the last stronghold of the noblest of them 
all, the lion. 
It is generally considered advisable to insert a 
paragraph or two as to the danger attendant on and 
considered an integral part of the sport of big game 
shooting. I must confess to not being in agreement 
with the theory that danger is such an essential 
element of the sport. It is true that it adds an 
additional spice to the pleasure of those who enjoy it, 
and also a very agreeable method of impressing the 
ignorant around the smoking-room fire. If, however, 
the danger forms the essence of the sport, why go 
further than a meadow where there is a herd of cattle, 
polled for choice, and an impracticable fence ; then, 
having locked the gate, proceed to compass the death 
of the bull with a small bore rifle. More ‘sport’ 
could be guaranteed than from any beast in the 
Protectorate. Being of a cautious nature, I can 
affirm, even from my small experience, that the 
amount of necessary danger has been very greatly 
exaggerated. It is, I suggest, considerably less than 
in hunting and infinitely so than in driving partridges 
over a low fence between two jealous shots who have 
lunched not wisely but too well. I should imagine 
