X 
PREFACE 
During the last sixteen years of my life I have 
only had two short intervals of absence from Africa, 
and on these occasions I merely paid flying visits 
to the Old Country, the time spent at home not 
covering more than three months altogether, while 
for ten years I have been elephant hunting without 
intermission, save for a period in 1905-6, when I 
fought as a volunteer with the German forces during 
a native insurrection, receiving for my services a 
Prussian war decoration from the German Govern¬ 
ment. During these ten years, I have shot 447 bull 
elephants (I do not count females), thereby creating 
a world’s record. I do not make this statement in 
any spirit of boasting : I merely wish to convey to 
the reader that the stories which follow are not 
fiction, but facts gleaned from a long and unique 
experience in one of the most exciting and danger¬ 
ous sports that the world offers, and jotted down 
actually as they happened within a day or two of 
their occurrence. I should like to add, moreover, 
that I have not gone on safari with a large and 
well-armed expedition to lessen the risks of my call¬ 
ing, but have always hunted alone, with one or two 
trusted boys as trackers, and carriers. 
To conclude, I may say that I have never 
regretted the life I have led. It has been a life of 
weary days and restless nights, of fever, thirst, 
hunger, toil, and strife ; but a life of wild, exhilara- 
