Roosevelt in Africa.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 14056, 13 November 1909, Page 4 (Supplement)

Roosevelt in Africa.

A "VAST ZOO." The fiist of the series of articles which ex-President Theodore Koosevelt is contributing to the London Daily Telegraph in the United Kingdom, and Scribner's Magazine in tne United States, on his experiences in East Africa, has appeared, and ironit we- are enabled to qnote interest jug passages. Under the heading "African Game Trails," the writer describes bis arrival at Mombasa, the equipment of his caravan, his journey up the Uganda railway, his first hunt near Kapiti, and other interesting features of the earliest stage of his expedition. Mr Boosevelt describes how the party was welcomed at Mombasa, and how on the day following they boarded the train which was to take them on "the most interesting railway journey in the world." "On our train," says the cx-Pre-sident, "the locomotive was fitted with a comfortable seat across the cow-catcher, and on this, except at meal time, I spent most of the hours of daylight, usually in company with Selous, and often with Governor Jackson, to whom the territory and the game were alike familiar. . . . THE "VAST ZOO."

.** As we sat on the seat over the cow-catcher it was literally like passing through a vast zoological garden. . "Indeed, no such railway journey can be taken on any other line in (my other land. "At one time we passed a herd of

a dozen giraffes, cows and calves : cantering along through the open woods a couple of hundred yards to the right of the train. "A<*ain, still closer, four waterbuek cows, "their big ears thrown forward stared at us without moving until we had passed. " Hartebeasts wore everywhereone herd was on the track, and when the engine whistled they bucked and sprang" with ungainly agility, and galloped clear of the danger. "A long-tailed, straw-coloured monkev ran from one tree to another. "Huge black ostriches appeared from time to time. " Once a troop of impalla, close by the track, took fright: and as the beautiful creatures fled we saw now one and now another bound clear over the huge bushes. " A herd of zebra clattered across a cutting of the line not a hundred yards ahead of the train; the whistle hurried their progress, but only for a moment, and as we passed they were already turning round to gaze.

"The wild creatures were in their sanctuary, and thev knew it." CAMP LUXURY. Describing his outfit, Mr Roosevelt remarks, "It seemed almost too comfortable for men who knew camp life only on the Great Plains, in the Rockies, and in the North "Woods. "My tent had a fly, which was to protect it from the great heat; there was a little rear extension in which I bathed — a hot bath, never" a cold bath, is almost a tropic necessity i there was a ground canvas, of vital moment in a land of trick jiggers and scorpions; and a cot to sleep on, so as to be raised from the ground. " Quite a contrast to life on the round-up I "Then I had two tent boys to see after my belongings, and to wait at table as well as in the tent." Another- bit of impedimenta was a "pig-skin library" of 70 or 80 books, carried in an aluminius or oilcloth case, and weighing less than 601b. "It represents in part Kermit's taste, in part mine," says the writer, "and I need hardly say it also represents in no way all the books we most care for, but merely those which, for one reason-or another, we thought we should like to take on this particular trip." In detailing his personal belongings Mr Roosevelt mentions several gifts presented to him. "I used my Whitman tree army saddle and my army field-glasses," he says, "but, in addition, for studying the habits of the game, I carried the telescope given tto me on the boatby a fellow-traveller - and big-game hunter, an Irish Hussar captain from India.

"I had a very ingenious beam or scale for weighing game, designed and presented to me by my friend Mr Thompson Seton. " I had a slicker for wet weather, an army overcoat, and a niackinaw jacket for cold, if I had tto stay out overnight in the mountains. "In my pockets I carried, of course, a knife, a compass, and a waterproof match-box.

THE FIRST GAME. "Finally, just before leaving I had been sent, for good, luck, a gold-mounted rabbit's foot, by Mr John L. Sullivan, at one time ring champion of the world." " This first article concludes with an account of the first' game " bagged." The first thing the ex-President brought down was a " good buck of the smaller gazelle, at 225 vards: the bullet went a little high, breaking his back above the shoulders. "But what I really wanted wen. two good specimens, bull and cow, of the wildebeest."

Then follows an account of how these desired animals were stalked and finally brought dead to camp.