396 
African Game Trails 
tal to the interests of large bodies of set- enemies, the dangerous carnivores, were 
tiers, nor yet should they be nominally es- killed, would by its simple increase crowd 
tablished in regions so remote that the only man off the planet; and of the further fact 
men really interfered with are those who that, far short of such increase, a time 
respect the law, while a premium is thereby speedily comes when the existence of too 
From a photograph by W. N. MacMillan. 
put on the activity of the unscrupulous 
persons who are eager to break it. Simi¬ 
larly, game laws should be drawn primarily 
in the interest of the whole people, keeping 
steadily in mind certain facts that ought to 
be self-evident to every one above the in¬ 
tellectual level of those well-meaning per¬ 
sons who apparently think that all shooting 
is wrong and that man could continue to 
exist if all wild animals were allowed to in¬ 
crease unchecked. There must be recog¬ 
nition of the fact that almost any wild 
animal of the defenceless type, if its multi¬ 
plication were unchecked while its natural 
much game is incompatible with the inter¬ 
ests, or indeed the existence, of the culti¬ 
vator. As in most other matters, it is only 
the happy mean which is healthy and ra¬ 
tional. There should be certain sanctu¬ 
aries and nurseries where game can live 
and breed absolutely unmolested; and else¬ 
where the laws should so far as possible 
provide for the continued existence of the 
game in sufficient numbers to allow a rea¬ 
sonable amount of hunting on fair terms 
to any hardy and vigorous man fond of the 
sport, and yet not in sufficient numbers to 
jeopard the interests of the actual settler, 
