INTRODUCTION. 
Hunttne, from the earliest antiquity, has formed no less the favourite pastime of the mightiest monarchs, than the chosen exercise of 
the most exalted heroes. Poets and minstrels have made the merrye greene-wode the theme and burthen of their wild song. Philosophers 
and sages have lauded the sylvan craft, as combining exercise to the body, with delight and entertainment to the mind; whilst painters 
and sculptors have made it the subject of the noblest creations of their skill and genius. The ancient schools instructed those who 
were destined for deeds of high emprize, to contest with the swiftest. of the wild beasts in speed, with the boldest in strength, and 
with the most cunning in craft and subtilty ;—* certare cum fugacibus feris, cursu; cum audacibus, robore; cum callidis, astu.” 
Victories gained over the savage tenants of the forest constantly formed the prelude to heroic exploits in war;—and the splendid 
monuments which transmitted to after ages the military achievements of the Emperors of Rome, not unfrequently blended with their 
most celebrated triumphs, the glories of the chase. The pages of history record the high estimation in which our own ancestors, from 
the rudest periods, have regarded this noble diversion. Princes and statesmen have alike been its protectors; and whilst men of the 
ereatest genius in Europe have not disdained to share in the excitement it affords, oriental potentates have far eclipsed the more 
civilized nations of the globe, in the splendour and magnificence with which they have indulged in the engrossing fascinations of the field. 
Of those who have taken up the unpretending Narrative of my recent adventures in the wilds of Southern Africa, to which the 
present volume may be considered to form an amplification, few will deny that to wander through a fairy-land of sport, among the 
independent denizens of the wide wilderness,—realizing, as it were, a new and fabled creation amid scenes never before paced by civilized 
foot,—is in itself so truly spirit-stirring and romantic, that in spite of the many hardships and privations which are inseparable from a 
campaign directed against the ferze nature, the witcheraft of the desert must prove irresistible. Nor will any one who reflects that the 
regions I traversed were either totally depopulated, or very sparingly inhabited, complain, that my attention should have been so 
exclusively directed to the brute creation, which presented to the traveller the most prominent as well as the most engrossing objects of 
contemplation. In a region “ where the grim lion prowls monarch of all he surveys,” my interviews with the wild races of the human 
species were necessarily few and far between; and it seldom fell tomy fortune to have opportunities of studying the natural history of 
those primitive children of the desert. 
Africa, it is well known, is the great nursery of many of the most noble and interesting forms that exist in the animal kingdom. 
Her southern regions, which extend into the temperate zone, are surrounded on three sides by the ocean; and being divided from the 
milder climates of the northern hemisphere by the torrid belt that intervenes, are tenanted by a vast nation of indigenous quadrupeds. 
The grizzled Monarch of the forest—the stupendous Elephant—and the shapeless River Horse ;—the mailed Rhinoceros—the gaily 
painted Zebra—and the richly arrayed Ostrich ;—all claim alike some portion of her savage soil as the lot of their inheritance. An 
endless variety of grotesque and bulky ruminants also, offer to the keen disciple of “ the mighty Hunter,” guarrées no less glorious than 
eccentric. The towering Giraffe, by whose lofty side man dwindles to the stature of a pigmy ;—the malevolent and stately Buffalo, 
** With fiery eyes and angry roar 
And feet that stamp, and horns that gore.”’— 
the mild, though ponderous Eland, enveloped in a goodly garment of its own fat ;—the fantastic Gnoo, with its scarcely less terrifie-looking 
congener—the Unicorn-resembling Oryx, and the regal Koodoo ;—the proud group of Aigoceri, and the graceful family of star-eyed 
Gazelles ;—together with a whole host of subordinates, descending by fair gradations, link by link, to that tiniest of sylvan denizens, 
the Czerulean Antelope, and collectively filling the place which in other countries is oceupied by the cervine race—all advance their 
hereditary title to a share in the trackless plateaux of that mighty portion of the earth. 
The extensive field that yet remains unexplored of the great and mysterious Continent of Africa, doubtless contains a rich mine of 
hidden treasure, which in the progress of gradual development, will no doubt be one day fully exhausted. By the indefatigable exertions 
of modern travellers, the repositories of science have been already enriched with some of the choicest exuvie of most of the interesting 
forms with which we are yet acquainted: and the enterprize of others, also, has stocked our menageries, like the ark of Noah, with 
living specimens of nearly every variety. Widely different, however, is the graceful free-born of the desert, bounding exultingly in light 
and liberty over his native prairie, from the pampered cripple, pining in sad captivity, with simews relaxed under the restraint of a prison- 
house. Yet it is from stunted subjects such as these, or worse still, from mummies and stuffed monstrosities, that the most popular 
illustrations of the African Fauna have heretofore been principally derived ;—and so little likeness do some of the abortions and 
absurdities thus produced, bear to the brave originals, that it is frequently difficult, if not impossible, to trace in them the most remote 
resemblance to the actual works of the creation, 
With the design, if possible, of supplying in some measure this palpable defect in our Zoological galleries, the portraits contained 
in the present series were originally undertaken. How manifold soever their imperfections, if viewed as productions of art, they can 
boast at least of being adorned with the beauties of truth, having all been delineated from living subjects, roaming in pristine independence 
over their native soil, “ To study animals with accuracy,” says the observant Buffon, “ we ought to view them in their savage state :— 
