134 , 
IN AFRICA 
caped with only a few bones broken; although he 
was laid up for five weeks. Ashton and Black did 
not have much luck in the present trip and failed to 
get a single lion. 
Two Spaniards passed our camp one day, in¬ 
ward bound. They were the Duke of Penaranda 
and Sr. de la Huerta, and reported no lions during 
their few days in the district. Prince Lichtenstein 
was also somewhere on the plateau, but we didn’t 
run across him. In addition to these three parties 
and ours, the only other expedition in the Guas 
Ngishu Plateau was Colonel Roosevelt’s party, 
toward which, by previous agreement, we made our 
way. 
A number of months before Mr. Akeley, who 
headed our party, was dining with President Roose¬ 
velt at the White House. In the course of their talk, 
which was about Africa and Mr. Akeley’s former 
African hunting and collecting experiences, the 
latter had told the president about a group of ele¬ 
phants that he was going to collect and mount for 
the American Museum of History in New York. 
President Roosevelt was asked if he would cooper¬ 
ate in the work, and he expressed a keen willingness 
to do so. When our party arrived at Nairobi, in 
September, a letter awaited Mr. Akeley, renewing 
Colonel Roosevelt’s desire to help in collecting the 
group. 
It was in answer to this invitation that Mr. Ake¬ 
ley and our party had gone to the Mount Elgon 
country to meet Mr. Roosevelt and carry out the 
