At night the roar of lions
may now and then cause them to turn in their sleep, and in their dreams
they may have visions of the animals that have charmed them during the
day--the stately eland, the graceful roan and sable antelopes, the
ungainly wildebeeste, and the funny old wart-hog, trotting along with
high action and tail erect. Besides gaining health and experiencing the
keenest enjoyment, they will know some of the pleasures vouchsafed to
those of their countrymen whose fate it is to live, and sometimes to
die, in far-off climes--men who have helped to make England famous, and
are now, step by step, building up our mighty Empire. Curious are the
lives these men, and many like them, lead, cut off as it were from the
bustling, throbbing world. A handful of white men, surrounded by
thousands of blacks, with calm complacency they proceed, first to
impress on the natives the importance, the might, and the justice, of
the great Empire which they represent in their various capacities; then
to establish beyond question their own dignity and wisdom; and finally
to make themselves as comfortable, and their surroundings as attractive
and homelike, as possible, with such means as they can command. They
are to be seen superintending a court of justice, looked up to and
trusted by the natives, who have quickly found out that the "boss" is
just, firm, and that he will not believe a falsehood.
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