To old and young alike I trust that these pages may be of interest and may serve to arouse some little sympathy for my distant Congo friends, dusky though they be.<br><br>My trip to that country was not undertaken solely for pleasure, for I have some claims to be numbered among the dozen or so of men who are styled "Elephant Hunters," of whom few, if indeed any, have worked so far into the Congo wilds as my friend and I in the course of the journey set forth in the following pages.<br><br>I hope I may be successful in giving some idea of the enormous obstacles, the disappointments, and the dangers which daily, nay, almost hourly, confront the hunter and trader in the north-eastern Congo, i.e. the Lado Enclave and the Luele District.<br><br>Speaking collectively of the natives in Central Africa, they regard us undoubtedly as a set of fools with some queer ideas. Why does the white man hurry? Tomorrow will follow to-day for certain, then why always hurry? They shake their heads at the hurrying man, they cannot understand him, he is so utterly foreign to them and their natures. You might argue with them for weeks and months, but they would still shake their heads and say, "The days come one after another, they are all the same." It is hopeless to try and hurry a native.