THE ROOSEVELT HUNT. 
11 
while not only such “vermin” as lions and leopards boldly stand near the track 
and gaze at the tantalized passengers, but the timid gazelle and the wary 
giraffe appear to discard their very natures. 
AWFUL COST OF THE UGANDA RAILROAD. 
When the statistician finds that about $35,000,000 was spent in the build¬ 
ing of the Uganda railway from its commencement, in January, 1896, to its 
completion, in 1902, he pronounces the cost great. The philanthropist and the 
enterprising citizen of the world asserts that the cost was small, considering 
that it has changed the face of a large portion of Equatorial Africa; opened 
up a wonderful country for the scientist and cartographer and a land full of 
charms and surprises for the artist; thrown safeguards around the lives of the 
Christian missionaries; introduced the world to one of the most advanced 
and promising native states of Africa; created a real scenic railway for the 
pleasure and instruction of thousands of travelers—in fact, driven a great 
wedge into interior Africa for the entrance of civilization, and last (but great¬ 
est in the estimation of the hunter of big game), made it possible for the true 
African sportsman to be placed, comfortable and fresh, in his hunting grounds, 
prepared to give the full strength of his body and the keenness of his mind to 
the strenuous work before him. The journey of nearly six hundred miles 
from the coast to Lake Victoria Nyanza, taken by the cumbersome caravan 
at an expenditure of three months’ time and a small fortune in money, is now 
accomplished in less than forty-eight hours at a cost of from $5.84 to $40.4. 
The railroad rates are six cents, three cents and one cent per mile, according 
to the class of accommodations. It is not on record that any white man has 
ridden the 584 miles on a third-class ticket in the “Jim Crow” cars; the latter 
are monopolized by the natives. Jim Crows, in turn, are barred from the 
first and second-class cars, which are comfortable and cool. 
If only seven million British pounds had been expended on this great 
creation of New Africa, the cost would indeed be small in view of what has 
already been accomplished and the far greater benefits of the future. But 
disease, poisonous insects and reptiles, and, more terrible still, the carnivorous 
beasts of East Africa, collected an awful toll of human life before the Uganda 
railway was completed. Although some of the warlike native tribes, such as 
the Masai, gave the early surveyors and builders some trouble by cutting off 
scattered parties, the agents before mentioned were chiefly responsible for the 
great sacrifice of life. What has been said of this country is true of any 
