THE GREAT THICK-SKINNED ANIMALS 1 S 1 
denly throw up their heads in alarm and dash rapidly away before he 
has had a chance for a shot. This is only one of many kinds of dis¬ 
appointments which must be borne with a smile and a hope to do better 
next time. If one imagines that hunting in Africa is simply a matter 
of standing still and shooting down animals on all sides, the only 
qualification necessary being ability to shoot fairly straight, by all 
means let him change his mind before he goes to try it. The sport 
requires not only the most accurate sort of shooting, and that under 
conditions of light and heat vibration which would make good shooting 
impossible for one unused to such conditions, but it requires the hardest 
work in making one's way through pathless jungles, endurance on a 
long chase after a wounded animal, perseverance through overwhelm¬ 
ing disappointments, and it is probably needless to say that life itself 
hangs almost continually on bravery and presence of mind. Rugged 
health is necessary to withstand the heat and the fever-bearing vapors 
which rise from every swamp, and other insidious diseases peculiar 
to the African climate, as well as the long hard marches sometimes 
necessary. 
If a would-be African sportsman is absolutely sure, through long 
trial and severe test, that he possesses all these qualifications, he may 
safely undertake such a trip as Mr. Roosevelt has made. It must be 
remembered that the ex-President was a man ranked with the greatest 
American sportsmen, having had many years of big game hunting in 
our own Rockies, in addition to his record as a brave and tireless 
soldier and all around athlete. Few men possess such qualifications, 
and without them it is well to stay out of Africa and confine oneself 
to some less rigorous and dangerous sport. 
The Wart-Hog. —To continue with the pachyderm family. We 
now come to the ugly and forbidding wart-hog, or African boar. This 
animal provides a great deal of sport, armed as he is with long and 
dangerous tusks. Although they are usually hunted with the smaller 
bore rifles, a sport is growing up gradually of spearing them from 
horseback like the sport of pigsticking, so popular in India. The 
British officers there have devoted a great deal of time to training 
their ponies and themselves to this exciting sport with the native 
Indian wild boar. 
