ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY 
BULLETIN 
Published by the New York Zoological Society 
Volume XXVI NOVEMBER, 1923 Number 6 
WILD LIFE ON AND AROUND MOUNT ELGON, 
EQUATORIAL EAST AFRICA 
By Leon Bayer, M.D . 1 
Formerly of the Tropical Institute of Hygiene, Amsterdam. 
Illustrations from Photographs by the Author 
Part I. The Journey to Mount Elgon 
A FTER hundreds of years of exploration in 
all parts of the globe to discover the last 
stretches of unknown lands and new forms 
of life, Africa has still no equal as the game 
garden of the world. South of the Sahara, the 
greatest of deserts, from west to east and from 
north to south, innumerable herds can graze 
and browse unhampered by mountain chains. 
The West African Rain Forest, it is true, ex¬ 
cludes the grazing antelopes, but on the other 
hand adds its own quota to the variety of this 
unsurpassed continental fauna. 
South Africa’s original wealth of game, of 
course, has received the same staggering blow 
that civilization and husbandry naturally inflict 
upon the untrammeled forces of Nature every¬ 
where. Great efforts are needed to prevent the 
extinction there of some of the wild animals 
that formerly roamed in countless thousands, 
or they will share the fate of the quagga {Hip¬ 
po tig r is quag go), the blaubok ( Egocerus leuco- 
phaeus ), and the southern race of white rhin¬ 
oceros ( Ceratotlierium simum simurn). A close 
relative of the quagga, the mountain zebra {Hip- 
potigris zebra), the handsome bontebuck {Alce- 
phalus pygargus), and the blesbok {Alcephalus 
albifrons) are now on the verge of extinction 
and are only known from a few localities, partly 
under semi-domestic conditions. Forces for pre¬ 
servation, under the stimulus of the great cham¬ 
1 Arranged for publication by Herbert Lang, As¬ 
sistant Curator of African Mammals, American 
Museum of Natural History, New York. 
pions of wild life, Messrs. William T. Horna- 
day and A. K. Haagner, have engaged in a 
valiant effort to convince the South African 
government of the need to protect this heritage, 
which is a part of the great wealth of the 
country. 
Strange as it may seem the teeming wild 
life of British East Africa has really been 
preserved by the bravery of phalanxes of Masai 
warriors, in spite of the continued onslaughts of 
greedy Arab traders. Long after the arrival 
of the white man the Masai, by their annihilat¬ 
ing attacks, so effectively guarded their domain, 
that as a result the great caravan route on 
which slaves and ivory poured eastward was of 
necessity laid to the south through less inviting 
regions from the trader’s point of view. Liv¬ 
ing essentially off the meat, milk and blood of 
their numerous herds of cattle, the Masai killed 
no game for food. Their fearless warriors, 
however, brought sure destruction upon raiding 
lions which found it easier to prey upon the 
natives’ stock than upon the fleeter wild ani¬ 
mals. They met this prowling foe in the open, 
relying solely upon their unfailing aim and the 
sharpness of their long, slender spears. A hood 
made of the lion’s mane was the crowning 
glory of the brave whose weapon laid low the 
roaring enemy. It was a mark of distinction 
in battle. 
To many Americans parts of East Africa 
are better known than their own West was to 
most of their grandfathers when buffalos roamed 
there by the thousands. The Uganda railway 
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