July 25, 1908.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
i37 
Cost of Big Game Shooting. 
The articles recently printed in Forest and 
Stream about President Roosevelt’s contem¬ 
plated big-game expedition to East Africa brings 
out some inquiries as to the cost of such a big- 
game hunting trip. Some of the questions—as 
to cost of license, fare to Mombasa and wages 
of men—have already been answered, and out¬ 
side of these necessary expenses it is very diffi¬ 
cult to give anything more than the most general 
ideas as to what the trip would cost, because 
no two men want to go in just the same way. 
One man will require many luxuries, while an¬ 
other may insist on “roughing it.” On the other 
hand, in the African climate it is not possible 
to “rough it” as one does out West. Many pre¬ 
cautions must be taken; water must be boiled 
before being drunk, and frequent baths and 
changes of clothing are necessary. Ihere must 
be a large force of men to perform various 
services. The best wear is khaki, which should 
be, if possible, thorn proof, but as soft as pos¬ 
sible. Putties or leggings are needed and heavy 
shoes. While the climate during the day is very 
warm, it is often cold at night. Undergarments 
should be of flannel. 
While many men do their hunting on foot, 
yet ponies or mules are coming to be more and 
more used for riding when hunting and on the 
march. These are expensive, costing from £30 
to £45 each, or from $150 to $225. Donkeys are 
used to transport provisions. These are com¬ 
monly hired. Ponies and mules are also hired 
at the rate of £10 or $50 a month. The cost 
of a white hunter, such as was spoken of in the 
recent article, is high, about $15 a day, or $450 
a month and expenses. 
The estimated cost of a three months’ expedi 
tion for a single man with his outfit, not includ¬ 
ing his fares and the tips and presents that he 
may feel called upon to give, is something like 
$1,400. The cost for two men would not be pro¬ 
portionately as large. This includes : 
Three months’ general outfit. $50.00 
Four guns and ammunition, estimated... 400.00 
Two ponies, about .. 300.00 
License and special license for elephant, 
about . 35 000 
Personal outfit . 125.00 
Field glasses, camera, compass, etc. 90.00 
Sundries . 7 S-°° 
Total .$1,390.00 
Two men or three can get along comfortably 
enough with a gang of sixty or sixty-five men 
all told, of whom fifty will be porters. Besides 
these they may need a dozen donkeys to carry 
food for the porters across stretches of country 
where no meat can be killed. Donkeys are ex¬ 
ceedingly slow, but on the other hand each 
donkey carries twice as much as a porter and 
browses on the grass, so that no food need be 
carried for them. 
An outfit such as this is quite modest by com¬ 
parison with one which came in to Nairobi a 
couple of months ago. This consisted of three 
persons, two men and a woman from England. 
They had a retinue of 450 porters and sixty 
donkeys. This seems like taking a regiment 
with one to hunt. 
Since the building of the Uganda railroad the 
business of outfitting hunting parties has grown 
to be one of much importance. Messrs. New- 
land, Tarlton & Co. have established an office 
at Nairobi, in British East Africa, and one in 
London, 166 Piccadilly, from either of which 
detailed information on most points can be had. 
This firm outfits hunting parties, supplying every¬ 
thing that is needed, and charging a commission 
or a prearranged fee for their services. 
It is of course important that persons con¬ 
templating a trip of this kind should begin to 
make their preparations long in advance; and 
as the hunting season usually runs from May 
to November those considering a trip for next 
year should begin to make inquiries at once. 
Messrs. Newland & Tarlton issue an illustrated 
booklet which gives much interesting informa¬ 
tion to the big-game hunter. 
Adirondack Forest Problems. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
This is a very good time of the year to call 
attention to the reasons why the streams are 
so low, and in this connection the editorial in 
the Forest and Stream, July 11, “Public Right 
in Private Timber” is a most interesting state¬ 
ment. Herewith it seems worth while to recall 
a sentence in the report of the Adirondack com¬ 
mittee, New York Assembly, of 1902. 
It will be remembered that this committee was 
one of those which attacked the Cornell Forestry 
College experiment in Franklin county. The 
attacks, it seems to me, were justified, but at 
the same time some were made in such a way 
as to slur intelligent forestry in comparison with 
ignorant and wasteful logging. But as some¬ 
times happens there came out of the joyful 
attack on something progressive and different a 
suggestion which perhaps marks the beginning 
of Adirondack forest control, regardless of pub¬ 
lic or private ownership. 
The college slashed away all the timber with 
the intention of reforestation by planting. The 
gash made in the wilderness was a frightful 
place, but sometimes it might have and doubt¬ 
less would have been grown to excellent timber. 
The politicians of the committee, filled with 
righteous indignation at the mistakes in the 
effort to better Adirondack logging operations, 
promulgated this doctrine: 
“Neither private owners nor agents of the 
State should be permitted in future to create 
similar conditions.” 
This was a doctrine which must have startled 
the loggers, had they ever heard of it, coming 
as it did from the blind men who wandered from 
hotel to hotel in the Adirondacks, seeing not 
one stick of the millions of feet of timber 
skidded on State land, ready for stealing away 
down the rivers to the “innocent” receivers of 
stolen goods whose interests seem to have been 
much more at the heart of the State Govern¬ 
ment than public policy and public good. 
For time out of mind private and public lands 
had been lumbered without hindrance, and the 
disgraceful skinning of private and public lands 
had continued without measurable hindrance— 
at the worst of the vandalism, and when it 
seemed as though forestry itself was full of 
graft, the sweeping statement was made by 
Assemblymen Thomas M. Costello, Otto Kelsey, 
Jotham P. Allds, James T. Rogers, George Pal¬ 
mer and John McKeon that private owners 
should not be permitted to skin timber lands 
regardless of public wellfare. This was on April 
16, 1903. 
Following this statement came the exposure 
of the “scandalous mismanagement” of the Adi¬ 
rondack State forest lands, in the report of the 
Association for the Protection of the Adiron¬ 
dacks, to Governer Higgins, the appointment of 
James S. Whipple to succeed “Doc” Middleton, 
the ousting of Pond as chief game protector, the 
appointment of John B. Burnham, a man of un¬ 
questioned integrity, intelligence and ability to 
succeed Pond, and the diversion of Col. Fox’s 
talents from recommendations to swap State 
lands, amend the constitution to permit State 
land logging and similar things to efforts to 
plant Adirondack barrens with trees—work 
which would have been far more advanced had 
the old time Forest Commission had any con¬ 
ception of its duties to the public. 
There seems to be little fault to find with the 
present Forest, Fish and Game Commission 
Certainly, it has done splendid work in educat¬ 
ing the public to the needs of the situation, 
especially as regards the State forests. The en¬ 
forcement of the game laws against summer 
visitors as well as woodsmen is working good 
which cannot be measured. If there are any 
questionable practices in the department now, 
they will probably be found in failure to eject 
squatters from State land, permitting under 
bond the continuation of logging operations on 
lands to which the State claims title, and in the 
commissioner granting consent to owners of 
preserved lands to keep the public off public 
waters under Article IV., Section 29 of the 
Forest, Fish and Game law, 1908. 
Raymond S. Spears. 
Recent Publications. 
“In the Land of Mosques and Minarets,” by 
Francis Miltoun. With some 70 illustrations 
in colors and tints from paintings and draw¬ 
ings by Blanche McManus; and a number 
of maps. Cloth, ,442 pages, $3. Boston, L. 
C. Page & Co. 
This, Mr. Miltoun’s eleventh book, is if pos¬ 
sible, more interesting to the sportsman tourist 
than his “Rambles in Brittany” and “The Auto- 
mobilist Abroad.” It is in no sense a guide book, 
dry and monotonous. Instead, it is a charming 
collection of the impressions of an enthusiastic 
traveler, who delves into his subject so deeply 
that there is little room for dry, descriptive 
matter, and the book is equally fascinating to 
the intending traveler and the stay-at-home. 
History, architecture, religion, folklore, poetry, 
music, scenery are blended with anecdote and 
humor. His impressions of the desert are worth 
quoting: 
“Above is a sky of stainless beauty, and the 
splendor of a pitiless, blinding glare; the sirocco 
caresses you like a lion with flaming breath; 
all round lie drifted sand-heaps, where the wind 
leaves its trace in solid waves. Flayed rocks are 
here, skeletons of mountains, and hard unbroken 
sun-dried plains, over which he who rides is 
spurred by the idea that the bursting of a water 
skin, or the pricking of a camel’s hoof would 
be a certain lingering death of torture. The 
springs seem to cry the warning words, ‘Drink 
and away.’ There is nothing mysterious or dull 
