London: Macmillan and Co., Limited, 1909. First edition. Publisher's blue cloth, front cover with a gilt camel and tribesman within a double circular frame, spine ruled and lettered in gilt, top edge gilt. Front inner hinge cracked but still a near fine copy with the just the mildest of rubbing to cloth extremities. xvi, 389, [1, blank], [1, Map], [1, imprint], [2, advertisements]. With 104 photogravure illustrations (some full-page) 8 maps and General Map of British East Africa at end.

"In the following pages I have endeavoured to give a plain account of the trials and adventures which befell me on two recent expeditions through the nyika, or wilderness, in British East Africa. On the first trip there were three of us, and all returned safely to civilisation, although dangers were not wholly absent. On the second and longer expedition there were also three Europeans, but, alas! only two got back, the nyika having claimed the third; nor was the god of the wilds content with this sacrifice, for, in addition, he claimed several of my native followers. He laid his deadly grip on me as well, but I was wrested from him by the care and attention of my companion, to whose skilful nursing I feel I owe my life." Written by Lieutenant-Colonel John Henry Patterson, DSO (1867-1947), known as J. H. Patterson, a British soldier, hunter, author and Christian Zionist, best known for his book The Man-Eaters of Tsavo (1907), which details his experiences while building a railway bridge over the Tsavo river in Kenya in 1898-99. In the First World War, Patterson was the commander of the Jewish Legion. (Item #3687)