THE following pages contain my memories of many years spent in the African bush, where I did little else than hunt game and study their habits and tracks. In 1906 my friend the late Major (then Captain) C. H. Stigand and myself brought out Central African Game and its Spoor, and then we both wrote further volumes on the game independently. I doubted whether I had enough material for another volume, but on looking up my diaries I found that there was quite a lot I had left unsaid. The first chapter deals with some of my experiences when tea-planting in Eastern India, but I had so little opportunity there to get really good sport that I think it best here to mainly confine my attention to Africa, where I had a glorious time Eastern India is so jungly that without the use of trained elephants it is impossible for a man to do much with the rifle. On the other hand, Central Africa is a country where anyone can get (or perhaps I should say could get) as much shooting as he wants if he is a good walker and able to rough it in a bad climate; for it is not a health resort. Naturally a hunter’s life in tropical Africa is not “roses all the way,” although there are wonderful compensations for the hardships and fevers

Volumes for 1898-1968 include a directory of publishers.

Vols. for 1898-1968 include a directory of publishers.

THIS small volume contains some of the letters I have received during the last thirty years or more from well-known big-game hunters and field-naturalists, many of whom have now passed away. They were so interesting to me that I thought they might interest others who have shot in wilder Africa. Moreover, they describe conditions which are no longer possible considering the way many parts of that continent have been opened up since the Great War. Whether the spread of a so-called civilization is a good thing I do not wish to discuss, but I know there are many men, including myself, who would prefer the older times when things were less complicated and conventional. Many people are now going in for photography more than shooting, and in a way this is a good thing as it will naturally help to conserve the game. It is, however, a much less risky amusement to take animals’ pictures—I mean dangerous animals—than to try to kill them, for game such as lion, elephant, buffalo, leopard and rhinoceros are seldom dangerous until they are wounded and followed up in thick cover. Some people may doubt this statement, but it is nevertheless true, as all experienced hunters can vouch.