13 
ch. i] THE UGANDA RAILWAY 
throve so under protection as to become sources of 
grave danger, not only to the crops, but to the lives of 
the natives, and they had to be taken off the protected 
lists and classed as vermin, to be shot in any numbers at 
any time, and only the great demand for ivory pre¬ 
vented the necessity of following the same course with 
regard to the elephant; while recently in British East 
Africa the increase of the zebras, and the harm they did 
to the crops of the settlers, rendered it necessary to 
remove a large measure of the protection formerly 
accorded them, and in some cases actually to encourage 
their slaughter ; and increase in settlement may neces¬ 
sitate further changes. But, speaking generally, much 
wisdom and foresight, highly creditable to both Govern¬ 
ment and people, have been shown in dealing with 
and preserving East African game, while at the same 
time safeguarding the interests of the settlers. 
On our train the locomotive was fitted with a com¬ 
fortable seat across the cow-catcher, and on this, except 
at meal-time, I spent most of the hours of daylight, 
usually in company with Selous, and often with Governor 
Jackson, to whom the territory and the game were alike 
familiar. The first afternoon we did not see many wild 
animals, but birds abounded, and the scenery was both 
beautiful and interesting. A black-and-white hornbill, 
feeding on the track, rose so late that we nearly caught 
it with our hands ; guinea-fowl and francolin, and occa¬ 
sionally bustard, rose near by; brilliant rollers, sun- 
birds, bee-eaters, and weaver-birds, flew beside us, or 
sat unmoved among the trees as the train passed. In 
the dusk we nearly ran over a hyena. A year or two 
previously the train actually did run over a lioness one 
night, and the conductor brought in her head in triumph. 
In fact, there have been continual mishaps, such as could 
