CHAPTER XV

CHARACTER, APPEARANCE, ETC.--SOME STORIES OF HIM

Untiring energy as a hunter--His modest requirements--Rifles--A story of his practical nature--Sir Alfred Pease on Selous as a hunter and naturalist--The average of shots required in various lands--Selous as a hunter--His love of the shot-gun--Perseverance to excel--The Brocklehursts--A lover of cricket--Bicycling--The triumph of physical fitness--His personal magnetism--Memory--Powers as a story-teller--Diffidence--Inclined to melancholy--The spring of perennial youth--The force of heredity--Slatin Pasha's estimation of Col. Marchand--Selous' opinion of Marchand--Powers of speech--His independence of thought and action--Literary gifts--Kindness of heart--Hatred of crowds--The perpetual call of the wild--Home-sickness--The nostalgia of travel--A great reader--His preferences in literature--Personal friends--Hospitality at home--Lewanika's fears--His attitude towards religion--Roosevelt on Selous--Selous' great influence as a pioneer--A noble life and a fitting end 352

INDEX 377

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

FREDERICK COURTENAY SELOUS AT THE AGE OF 59 _Frontispiece_ TO FACE PAGE THE PLAINS OF THE ORANGE FREE STATE IN 1871 64 SELOUS AS A YOUNG MAN, IN HUNTING COSTUME 80 ELEPHANTS 112 BUFFALOES ALARMED 144 ON THE MASHUNA PLATEAU 176 THE BATTLE OF THE STRONG 192 LIONS CHASING A KOODOO BULL 224 THE WANDERING MINSTREL 240 OSBORN'S CARIBOU 256 MT. KENIA FROM THE SOUTH 272 BULL MOOSE ABOUT TO LIE DOWN 288 MT. KILIMANJARO FROM THE NORTH 304 A SHOT ON THE PLAINS, BRITISH EAST AFRICA 320 FARU! FARU! 336 THEY CANNOT BREAK HIS SLEEP 368

THE LIFE OF FREDERICK COURTENAY SELOUS, D.S.O.