Col. J. H. Patterson, D.S.O.
WITH A FOREWORD BY FREDERICK COURTENEY SELOUS
PREFACE
It is with feelings of the greatest diffidence
that I place the following pages before the public;
but those of my friends who happen to have
heard of my rather unique experiences in the
wilds have so often urged me to write an account
of my adventures, that after much hesitation I at
last determined to do so.
I have no doubt that many of my readers,
who have perhaps never been very far away from
civilisation, will be inclined to think that some
of the incidents are exaggerated. I can only
assure them that I have toned down the facts
rather than otherwise, and have endeavoured to
write a perfectly plain and straightforward
account of things as they actually happened.
It must be remembered that at the time these
events occurred, the conditions prevailing in
British East Africa were very different from what
they are to-day. The railway, which has
modernised the aspect of the place and brought
civilisation in its train, was then only in process of
construction, and the country through which it
was being built was still in its primitive savage
state, as indeed, away from the railway, it still is.
If this simple account of two years' work and
play in the wilds should prove of any interest,
or help even in a small way to call attention to
the beautiful and valuable country which we
possess on the Equator, I shall feel more than
compensated for the trouble I have taken in
writing it.
I am much indebted to the Hon. Mrs. Cyril
Ward, Sir Guilford Molesworth, K.C.I.E.,
Mr. T.J. Spooner and Mr C. Rawson for their
kindness in allowing me to reproduce photographs
taken by them. My warmest thanks are also due
to that veteran pioneer of Africa, Mr. F.C. Selous,
for giving my little book so kindly an
introduction to the public as is provided by the
"Foreword" which he has been good enough
to write.
J.H.P.
August, 1907.
FOREWORD
It was some seven or eight years ago that I
first read, in the pages of The Field newspaper,
a brief account written by Col. J.H. Patterson,
then an engineer engaged on the construction of
the Uganda Railway, of the Tsavo man-eating
lions.
My own long experience of African hunting
told me at once that every word in this thrilling
narrative was absolutely true. Nay more: I
knew that the author had told his story in a most
modest manner, laying but little stress on the
dangers he had run when sitting up at nights
to try and compass the death of the terrible
man-eaters, especially on that one occasion when
whilst watching from a very light scaffolding,
supported only by four rickety poles, he was
himself stalked by one of the dread beasts.
Fortunately he did not lose his nerve, and succeeded
in shooting the lion, just when it was on
the point of springing upon him.
