CHAPTER V 
INTO THE HEART OF THE BIG GAME COUNTRY WITH 
A RETINUE OF MORE THAN ONE HUNDRED NA¬ 
TIVES. A SAFARI AND WHAT IT IS 
When I first expressed my intention of going to 
East Africa to shoot big game some of my friends 
remarked, in surprise: “Why, I didn’t know that 
you were so bloodthirsty!” They seemed to think 
that the primary object of such an expedition was 
to slay animals, none of which had done anything 
to me, and that to wish to embark in any such 
project was an evidence of bloodthirstiness. I tried 
to explain that I had no particular grudge against 
any of the African fauna, and that the thing I 
chiefly desired to do was to get out in the open, far 
from the picture post-card, and enjoy experiences 
which could not help being wonderful and strange 
and perhaps exciting. 
The shooting of animals merely for the sake 
of killing them is, of course, not an elevating 
sport, but the by-products of big game hunting in 
Africa are among the most delightful and inspir¬ 
ing of all experiences. For weeks or months you 
live a nomadic tent life amid surroundings so dif¬ 
ferent from what you are accustomed to that one is 
both mentally and physically rejuvenated. You are 
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