THE AFRICAN EXPEDITION AND ITS OBJECTS 
2 3 
We were told of the arrival at Naivasha of a member of the expedition, 
who came to the town in unloitering haste, being chased in by five lions. 
Roosevelt at the same time had his most threatening experience. He 
had set out on a hippopotamus hunt on the waters of Lake Naivasha 
in a small boat with two native attendants, and unexpectedly found 
himself assailed by a dozen of these huge water monsters. The situ¬ 
ation was one of extreme peril and the natives were thrown into a 
panic, especially when some of the brutes dove under the boat and 
sought to lift it on their clumsy heads. 
Coolness and nerve were needed at this moment of peril and they 
did not fail Colonel Roosevelt. He shot two of the largest of the hip¬ 
popotami, scared away the others, and came triumphantly ashore, 
towing in his prizes. Rut if the United States was to have the benefit 1 
of his future services it was very desirable that he should not repeat 
such experiences. A ! s for his son Kermit, it was said that this youth¬ 
ful hunter had shown more enthusiasm than caution in the pursuit of 
African game, some of his animal encounters approaching reckless¬ 
ness and calling for caution from his experienced father. 
We may conclude this chapter with a few remarks on a co-ordi¬ 
nate topic, that of the ethical bearing of a hunter's life. It cannot be 
denied that, aside from all purposes of scientific reward from the use 
of his rifle, our hunter was largely moved by the desire for pure sport, 
the bloodthirst that has animated the hunter in all ages. 
Yet is this as reprehensible as it is held to be by many? Is the 
life of one of these brute tenants of the African wilds a matter of 
ethical moment? “They toil not, neither do they spin." They live 
mainly to eat and reproduce their kind. No useful powers of thought 
animate their undeveloped brains, no provision for the morrow dis¬ 
turbs their narrow intellects; when they fall before the hunter's bullet 
it is with as little disturbance of the economy of nature as when a huge 
oak falls before the forester's axe. To destroy an entire forest may 
be a serious injury. To annihilate an animal species may disturb the 
balance of nature. Yet to fell an individual tree or rhinoceros can have 
no such effect, and aside from the passing spasm of pain in the latter 
instance it does not appear to have any ethical significance. That 
is, so far as the animal is concerned, since it may be saved by the 
