34 
AFRICAN GAME TRAILS 
caught shrews and mice in their traps; mole rats with vel¬ 
vety fur, which burrowed like our pocket gophers; rats 
that lived in holes like those of our kangaroo rat; and one 
mouse that was striped like our striped gopher. There were 
conies among the rocks on the hills; they looked like squat, 
heavy woodchucks, but their teeth were somewhat like 
those of a wee rhinoceros, and they had little hoof-like nails 
instead of claws. There were civets and wild-cats and 
things like a small mongoose. But the most interesting 
mammal we saw was a brilliantly colored yellow and blue, 
or yellow and slate, bat, which we put up one day while 
beating through a ravine. It had been hanging from a 
mimosa twig, and it flew well in the strong sunlight, look¬ 
ing like some huge, parti-colored butterfly. 
It was a settled country, this in which we did our 
first hunting, and for this reason all the more interesting. 
The growth and development of East and Middle Africa 
are phenomena of such absorbing interest, that I was de¬ 
lighted at the chance to see the parts where settlement 
has already begun before plunging into the absolute wilder¬ 
ness. There was much to remind one of conditions in 
Montana and Wyoming thirty years ago; the ranches 
planted down among the hills and on the plains still teem¬ 
ing with game, the spirit of daring adventure everywhere 
visible, the hope and the heart-breaking disappointment, the 
successes and the failures. But the problem offered by the 
natives bore no resemblance to that once offered by the 
presence of our tribes of horse Indians, few in numbers 
and incredibly formidable in war. The natives of East 
Africa are numerous; many of them are agricultural or pas¬ 
toral peoples after their own fashion; and even the bravest 
