The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-10-03
ROOSEVELT WRITES
OF GAME COUNTRY
Rides on CoWcatcher In ma
lures Wonderland"
SOME OF THE ANIMALS
Former President Says He Spent
Much of His Time on Comfort
able Seat Fixed on En-
gine's cowcatcher.
SOME OF THE ANIMALS

From "African Game Trails" by Theo-
dore Roosevelt, in the October Scribner.
Next morning we were in the game
country and as we sat on the seat over
the cow-catcher it was literally like pass
ing through a vast geological garden. In
deed not such railway journey can be
taken on any other line in any other land.
AT one time we passed herd of a dozen
or so of great CRATES, cows and calves.
eantering along through the open woods
a couple of hundred yards to the right
of the train. Again, still closer, four
water-buek cows, their big ears thrown
forward, stared at us without moving
until we had passed. Hartebeests were
everywhere; one herd was on the track,
and when the engine whistled they bucked
and sprang with ungainly agility and gall
Hoped clear of the danger. A long-tailed,
straw-colored monkey ran from one tree
to another. Huge black ostriches ap-
peared 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 high 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 moment, and as we passed
they were already turning round to gaze.
The wild creatures were in their sanctu
airy, and they knew it. Some of the set
tiers have at times grumbled at this game
reserve being kept of such size; but sure
ly it is one of the most valuable possess
cir nj, Iauxr lQ OH
of water in parts. the prevalence in other
parts of diseases harmful to bith civilized
man and domestic cattle render this
great tract of country the home of all
homes for the wild creatures of the waste.
The protection given these wild creatures
Is genuine, not nominal; they are pre-
served. not for the pleasure of the few,
but for the good of all who choose to see
this strange and attractive spectacle; and
from this nursery and breeding ground
the overflow keeps up the stock of game
in the adjacent land, to the benefit of the
settler to whom the game gives fresh
meat and to the benefit of the whole
country, because Of the attraction 1t fur
nishes to all who desire to visit verita-
BILE happy hunting ground.
The day after we landed we boarded
the train to take what seems to me, as I
think it would to most men fond of nat
>
Journey in the world. 1t was Governor
Jackson's special train. and in addition
to his own party and ours there was only
Selous; and we Travelled with the utmost
comfort through naturalst's wonder
land. All civilized governments are now
realizing that it is their duty here and
there to preserve unframed tracts of wild
nature. with thereon the wild things the
destruction of which means the destrue-
ton of half the charm of wild nature
The English government has made a
large game reserve of much of the re-
gion on the way to Nairobi, stretching far
to the south and one mile to the north of
the track. The reserve swarms with
game; it would be of little value except
as a reserve: and the attraction It now
offers to travellers renders it an asset of
real consequence to the whole colony
On our train the locomotive was fitted
with a comfortable seat across the cow
catcher and on this, except at meal-time,
] 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 first afternoon we did not
see many wild animals, but birds abound
ed, and the scenery was both beautiful
and interesting. black-andwhite horn
bill. feeding on the track, rose so late
that we nearly caught It with our hands;
guinea-fowl and francolin, and OCCASION
ally bustard rose near by; brilliant roll
ers sunbirds, decorators, and weaver
birds flew beside us, or sat unmoved
among the trees as the train passed In
the dusk we nearly ran over a hyena: a
year or two previously the train actually
did run over a lioness one night, and the
conductor brought in her head In triumph.
In fact, there have been continually mis-
haps such as could only happen to a rail-
road in the Pleistocene!