THROUGH THE PLEISTOCENE 
21 
colonists who came to South Africa in 1820; they had never 
been in England, and neither had Tarlton. It was exceed¬ 
ingly interesting to meet these Australians and Africanders, 
who typified in their lives and deeds the greatness of the 
English Empire, and yet had never seen England. 
As for Sir Alfred, Kermit and I were to be his guests 
for the next fortnight, and we owe primarily to him, to his 
mastery of hunting craft, and his unvarying and generous 
hospitality and kindness, the pleasure and success of our 
introduction to African hunting. His life had been one 
of such varied interest as has only been possible in our own 
generation. He had served many years in Parliament; 
he had for some years been a magistrate in a peculiarly re¬ 
sponsible post in the Transvaal; he had journeyed and 
hunted and explored in the northern Sahara, in the Soudan, 
in Somaliland, in Abyssinia; and now he was ranching 
in East Africa. A singularly good rider and one of the best 
game shots I have ever seen, it would have been impossible 
to have found a kinder host or a hunter better fitted to 
teach us how to begin our work with African big game. 
At Kapiti Station there was little beyond the station 
buildings, a “compound’" or square enclosure in which 
there were many natives, and an Indian store. The last 
was presided over by a turbaned Mussulman, the agent of 
other Indian traders who did business in Machakos-boma, 
a native village a dozen miles distant; the means of com¬ 
munication being two-wheeled carts, each drawn by four 
humped oxen, driven by a well-nigh naked savage. 
For forty-eight hours we were busy arranging our out¬ 
fit; and the naturalists took much longer. The provisions 
were those usually included in an African hunting or ex- 
