Zebras are very beautiful creatures, and it was an unending pleasure to watch them. (p. 49)
* * * * *
Wart-hogs are common throughout the country over which we
hunted. They are hideous beasts, with strange protuberances on their cheeks ; and when alarmed they
trot or gallop away, holding the tail perfectly erect,
with the tassel bent forward. Usually they are seen in
family parties, but a big boar will often be alone. They
often root up the ground, but the stomachs of those we
shot were commonly filled with nothing but grass. If
the weather is cloudy or wet they may be out all day
long, but in hot, dry weather we generally found them
abroad only in the morning and evening. (p. 85)
* * * * *
After leaving the elephants we were on our way back to camp when we saw a white man in the trail ahead;
and on coming nearer who should it prove to be but Carl Akeley, who was out on a trip for the American
Museum of Natural History, in New York. We went with him to his camp, where we found Mrs. Akeley,
Clark, who was assisting him, and Messrs. McCutcheon and Stevenson, who were on a similar errand. They
were old friends, and I was very glad to see them. McCutcheon, the cartoonist, had been at a farewell
lunch given me by Robert Collier just before I left New York, and at the lunch we had been talking much
of George Ade, and the first question I put to him was "Where is George Ade?" for if one unexpectedly meets
an American cartoonist on a hunting trip in mid-Africa there seems no reason why one should not also see his
crony, an American playright, A year previously Mr. and Mrs, Akeley had lunched with me at the
White House, and we had talked over our proposed African trips. Akeley, an old African wanderer, was
going out with the especial purpose of getting a group of elephants for the American Museum, and was
anxious that I should shoot one or two of them for him. I had told him that I certainly would if it were a
possibility; and on learning that we had just seen a herd of cows he felt — as I did — that the chance had
come for me to fulfil my promise. So we decided that he should camp with us that night, and that next
morning we would start with a light outfit to see whether we could not overtake the herd. (p. 340-41)
From African Game Trails (1910) by Theodore Roosevelt
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