The animals of Southern Africa have, for some years, been the subject of Colonel Aubrey Fitch-Harrington's considerable attention.
They have not always returned the compliment.
In these stories — each complete, each built on accurate natural history, each told in dry tradition — the Colonel and the continent negotiate a relationship that Africa, characteristically, considers already settled. His Zulu guide Cetshwayo observes all of it with the patience of a man who has learned that some educations simply take longer than others.
The wildlife facts are true. The Colonel's conclusions are his own. This distinction, as readers will discover, is where everything interesting lives.