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

Excerpt from Hunting Trips in Northern Rhodesia: With Accounts of Sport and Travel in Nyasaland and Portuguese East Africa, and Also Notes on the Game Animals and Their Distribution In the following pages I give an account of some of my experiences with the big game of Northern Rhodesia (or South Central Africa). Although the book is mainly about shooting in that country, I have also included a few chapters on sport and travel in Nyasaland and Portuguese East Africa. Sporting literature on this part of Africa is not so common as that on countries such as Southern Africa, British East Africa, Uganda, Somaliland, and the Nile regions. Perhaps to many people this book may seem superfluous, as so much has already been written on African shooting; but big-game hunters, in my opinion, are always ready to read about sport in countries so little known as this part of Africa, and where they have not been themselves. Since I have lived in this country I have kept diaries of my hunting trips and shooting experiences, but I have found it very difficult to prevent repetition, for to the general reader accounts of shooting must have a sameness that may bore him. To prevent this repetition as much as possible, I have picked out the accounts of certain trips, and have not given a description of all the experiences I have had with game while in the country. I have no hairbreadth escapes to relate, although I have had a few exciting experiences, which are the interesting part of big-game shooting. The game in this country is increasing rapidly, due to stringent game regulations and preservation, and there is here a splendid field for the hunter-naturalist. The free life in the bush is very fascinating to the lover of Nature in all her wild forms, and a man always longs to return to such a country, teeming with game, again and again. If these pages are of interest, or can give the slightest information to any sportsman, I shall be amply recompensed for the trouble of writing them. Their shortcomings are many; but I have written nothing that is not fact, and I would always prefer to be busy with the rifle than with the pen. I apologise for the frequent use of the personal pronoun, but this is a fault that is almost unavoidable in relating ones personal experiences. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

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.