The Land of the Lion
The Land of the Lion – OF BOOKS on African sport and travel truly there is no end. What excuse then, can I make for adding another to their number ? Frankly, my first reason was the pleasure the writing of these notes afforded me.
My memory has never been a good one, and after years
of somewhat hard work, I find, alas! it is less and less
serviceable. If I wish to retain vivid impressions myself of what seems worth remembering, or if I wish to convey the result of my impressions to others, I find it necessary to make copious notes at the time.
In this way I fell into the habit of writing down as I went along, some accounts of what I saw, and sometimes of what I heard.
Then you cannot travel every day and all day, in Africa. There are long hot afternoons to be passed, and occasionally long wet days to be wiled away, and since it is not always easy to carry many books, writing of some sort seems the natural thing to do.
I fear the results of such a method of writing will be only too apparent in these notes of mine. For notes they were in the first instance, made on horseback (more accurately, mule back) as my faithful burden bearer walked soberly along, or jotted down on my knee, as I called my gun boys to a halt under the shade of some rock or tree, while I did my best to put into hasty form, some word sketch of the strange or beautiful things before me.