UC-NRLF

SB ES MbS

SIR VICTOR BROOKE

SPORTSMAN

URALIST

THE LIBRARY

OF

THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA

PRESENTED BY

PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND
MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID

,

SIR VICTOR BROOKE, BART.

/I-

SIR VICTOR BROOKE

SPORTSMAN & NATURALIST

A MEMOIR OF HIS LIFE AND EXTRACTS

FROM HIS LETTERS AND

JOURNALS

EDITED BY

OSCAR LESLIE (STEPHEN

WITH

A CHAPTER ON HIS RESEARCHES IN NATURAL HISTORY
BY SIR WILLIAM H. FLOWER, K.C.B.

KEEPER OF THE NATURAL HISTORY BRANCH OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM

PORTRAITS AND ILLUSTRATIONS

LONDON

JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET
1894

DEDICATED

TO

HIS WIDOW

INTRODUCTION

IN undertaking to write a Memoir of the late Sir
Victor Brooke, coupled with extracts from his letters
and diaries relating to travel and sporting adventures,
I have not been actuated by the feeling that I possess
any special qualification for the task, except that of
an intimate friendship extending over twenty years.

With the slight literary advantages which I possess,
that friendship, close as it had been, would not have
been sufficient in itself to have induced me to attempt
the onerous work, had not his widow urged me to
do so, and expressed, with other relations, her opinion
that my knowledge of his life and character, and the
personal affection I bore him, would perhaps enable me to
do more justice to his memory than any one else could
have done, even though armed with better literary
credentials. However that may be, I trust those friends
and such of the public as read these pages will find
much to interest them ; and when interest is found
wanting, the fault will lie with the biographer rather
than with the subject of these memoirs.

O. LESLIE STEPHEN.

M309813

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

PAGE

Memoir I

CHAPTER II

Sir Victor Brooke's Scientific Life and Work. By Sir William

H. Flower, K.C.B., F.R.S 27

CHAPTER III

Journals of Norway and Sweden, including Ascent of Sneehatten and

Perilous Attempt to climb the Virgin Peak of the Vaugacullen . 40

CHAPTER IV

First Portion of Indian Trip — Extracts from Journal and Letter to

his Sister relating to the Man-eating Tiger 59

CHAPTER V

Second Portion of Indian Trip — Extracts from Journals and Letters
to his Mother and to his Cousin, Charles Okeover, from the
Neilgherry Hills — Successful Sport with Tigers, Bears, Sambur,
and Ibex— The Black Panther and Monster Tusker . 80

CHAPTER VI

Moufflon-Hunting in Sardinia — Trip after Wolves in the Apennines . 157

SIR VICTOR BROOKE

CHAPTER VII

PAGE

The Pyreneers after Izards, Bears, and Bouquetin . . . .169

CHAPTER VIII

Trip to Egypt — Stalking Wolves and Foxes in the Desert at Cairo-
Riding down a Wolf — Expedition to Hills near Suez after Ibex . 204

CHAPTER IX

Palestine — Letters to his Wife, and Extracts from Journal . .217

CHAPTER X

America — Letters to his Wife, and Extracts from Journal . . 232

ILLUSTRATIONS

Sir Victor Brooke as M.F.H. From a photograph by

Subercaze, 1885 Frontispiece

The Big Tusk To face page 10

The Vaugacullen ........ ,, 53

The Big Bull Bison ,,129

"Elephant-shooting is exciting Sport" . . . ,, 139

The Monster Tusker „ 150

Sir Victor Brooke on his Arab " Sheikh," 1889 . . ,, 204

Going Hard and Strong ,, 207

The Old Dog- Wolf ,,209

Sir Victor Brooke the year before his death. From a

photograph by Subercaze ..... ,, 243

CHAPTER I

MEMOIR

BEFORE entering upon an account of his early life and
subsequent career, I will endeavour to bring before my
readers what manner of man Victor Brooke appeared
to those who met him when still in the flush and pride
of a singularly gifted manhood.

Nature had endowed him with a great charm of
presence. Refined features, most expressive eyes, and
well - shaped head, fair hair and beard, beautifully
proportioned, 6 feet in height, and 45 inches round
the chest made him one of the handsomest men
I have ever seen. Coupled with this he had a most
winning manner that seemed to make even a casual
acquaintanceship assume the guise of friendship, so
genial, so bright, was his greeting. The open-hearted
Irish nature appeared to reach its embodiment in him,
and many a one has felt as if a breeze from the sea or
the tonic air of the mountain had braced him, after a
few minutes' conversation with his healthy unworldly
nature. You could not be long in his company
without feeling you were speaking to a man of great
strength of character, and one who did with all his
might whatever he put his hand to. It may be that
sometimes he devoted himself to matters scarcely

2 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

worthy of his great powers ; but whatever it was, from
science to sport or pastime, he gave it the very best of
himself. This, coupled with an intense enjoyment of
life, at least up to the time of his brother's death, and
love of the companionship of his fellow-men, made him
a most attractive personality. Even women whose
society he sought but little never met him without
feeling the charm of his enthusiastic nature.

It was this power of personal attraction, coupled
with great mental ability, I think, that gave Victor
Brooke his undoubted influence over men of all classes
of life. If anything had to be done that required the
amalgamation of divergent views and the convincing
others, ofttimes opponents, of its advantages, you had
only to get him to take it up, and the affair, whatever
it might be, was brought to a successful ending.

At Pau, where he spent so many winters, this
influence was most markedly felt, and the loss sustained
there by his death most touchingly expressed by
English, Americans, and Frenchmen alike.

A many-sided man full of interest in numbers of
different subjects, he reached his highest point in his
scientific researches in biological science. Sir William
Flower has very kindly written for me a full account of
his knowledge of him in that respect, and of the work
he contributed to that branch of science. Without his
aid I should have been unable to place before the
public any adequate description of the labour and
ability displayed by Brooke in the years he devoted to
this engrossing subject As a public speaker he had
that rare quality of carrying his audience with him, and
I have, in common with many others, deeply regretted
that he never turned his attention to political life ; if he
had, there is little doubt he would have reached no
mean position among the representatives of his country.

MEMOIR

The way was open to him, for his father had repre-
sented the County Fermanagh for many years, as had
other members of the family before him ; but at the
time when it would have been most feasible, he was
deeply occupied in his natural history studies, and later
on, Lady Brooke's health compelled him to live abroad
for the greater part of the year.

In sport and venery he was one of the greatest
authorities, and possessed that finest of all sportsman's
instincts, viz. the love of it for the pleasure it gave him
in studying the habits of beast and fowl. Few men
have known more of the game they pursued than
Victor Brooke. In games of all kinds he reached a
high proficiency, and at athletic exercises held his own
with the best. Another quality he possessed which
was known and immensely appreciated by his friends,
was his great power of intuitive sound judgment. As a
friend of his, a man largely engaged in important political
and business matters, once said to me : " I would rather
have Brooke's judgment than any one else's ! "

In that home life in which a man's innermost
feelings show themselves most distinctly he proved how
capable he was of the tenderest care and sympathy to
the beautiful but fragile partner of his life. From the
earliest years of their marriage his wife had developed
symptoms of delicacy that needed the greatest care
and solicitude, and as time went on she was often for
months together unable to leave her room. To most
men of his intensely active nature this continually
recurring ill-health would have been very trying ; with
him it only seemed to increase the love and considera-
tion he had for her in all the twenty-seven years they
passed so happily together. His one regret was the
suffering that his love and devotion could not alleviate,
and her enforced absence. That, as he so often said,

B

4 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

" took the edge off all his pleasures." This tender,
gentle side of his character was but little realised even
by his most intimate friends, but how deeply it impressed
an observer is best shown in the following words written
to Lady Brooke by Dr. Bagnell, his wife's medical attend-
ant, after her husband's death : —

With a perfect appreciation of everything that is
holy, true, and just, he showed the most rare com-
bination of a mind filled with tender feelings and
affections, a body full of energy and vitality, and a
heart that knew no danger, no fear, no dread for
itself, only for those it loved ; a woman's tenderness
and devotion with a broad powerful grasp, not to be
conceived by those outside the inner life.
Such, in brief, are the numerous attainments he
was happy in possessing, and such are the qualities
that endeared him to so many people. With his
faults it is easy to deal tenderly. They were but few
and lost in the great breadth of his fine nature.
Impatient, and at times irascible, and given, from the
intense enthusiasm of his character, to think every one
must be as interested in any given subject as he was
himself, he sometimes led people to think he was a
little egotistical. But when we remember that he lost
his father at ten years of age, and at twenty-one came
into a high position and great estate, and all his life
had been a persona grata wherever he went, we can
only wonder he came out of it so unspoilt. How few of
us could have passed through the fire and retained the
simple generous character he did to the last day of
his life !

When all is said and done, the vast majority of
those who knew him will think of him in the words of
a friend of his, by no means given to gentle criticism :
" He was a most lovable man ! "

I FAMILY HISTORY AND BOYHOOD 5

Sir Victor Alexander Brooke, Bart., was born at
Colebrooke, the ancestral home of his race, on the 5th
January 1843. His mother was Miss Anson, and had
been Maid of Honour to the Queen, and Her Majesty
graciously signified her wish to become godmother,
and gave the name.

Originally of an English family, Sir Basil Brooke,
the ancestor of the subject of these Memoirs, went over
to Ireland in the time of Elizabeth and fought under
Lord Mountjoy, was made Governor of the town and
Castle of Donegal, and one of the Commissioners for
the Settlement of Ulster. His descendant, Sir Henry
Brooke, received a grant of lands in County Fermanagh,
the present seat of the family. It was here that Victor
Brooke passed the earlier years of his life, with his two
brothers, Harry and Basil. The house, one of large
size, lies in the midst of a very fine park, magnificently
timbered, with a river running through it, and extensive
woods dotted about the Demesne. There is also a
large deer park a few miles from the house, which had
been emparked under a Royal Charter of the time of
James I., and which was entirely devoted to deer, and
kept so completely secluded that the deer within it
were practically in a wild state. With these surround-
ings, and an inborn love for natural history, Victor
Brooke, from his earliest childhood, gathered an accurate
fund of information concerning birds and beasts. He
had a great power of imitating all the sounds they
made, and when a child caused his governess much
annoyance by imitating, under the schoolroom window,
the noise pheasants make preparatory to going to roost.
As soon as he and his brother could sit on a pony they
went out with their father, Sir Arthur, on his visits to
tenants in different parts of the estate. In 1853 he
was sent to a school in Cheshire, and moved thence, in

6 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

1854, to one at Elstree Hill, whither his brother Harry
accompanied him. This school was conducted on the
old-fashioned principle that learning could only be
conveyed by continual flogging, and to such a pitch
was it carried that one year the boys determined to bar
out the headmaster, and Victor Brooke, as one of the
most adventurous spirits, was deputed to collect
provisions. To do this he had to be lowered nightly
from a bedroom window, and having procured a supply
of loaves and cheese, hauled up again by the same
process. This went on for several nights, and just as
the boys had collected an ample stock sufficient to
stand a prolonged siege, the plot was discovered, and
dire punishment followed in due course. In November
1854 Sir Arthur Brooke died while his son was but
ten years of age, and Mr. George Brooke, his father's
brother, became his guardian. I have always under-
stood from my friend that if any one could take the
place of a father his uncle had done so, and the
affection and respect with which he always spoke of
him, showed how loyal his guardian had been to the
trust reposed in him. In 1856 he went to Harrow
and remained there some years ; it was then that his
great powers of jumping first showed themselves, as
when only 5 ft. 7 in. in height, he was second for
the school prize with a jump of 5 ft. 6-| in., and was
only beaten half an inch by a boy 5 ft. IO in. in
height.

During the holidays at Colebrooke he rapidly
acquired great proficiency with both gun and rifle ;
with the latter he and his brother Basil became so
expert that they could split croquet balls thrown up
in the air, and then do the same to the pieces until
they were reduced to fragments. This accuracy was
of the greatest service to him in India when his

HIS MARRIAGE

life depended more than once upon making no
mistake.

With his brother Harry he repeatedly paid visits
to Castle Caldwell, a property belonging to his cousin,
John Bloomfield, a wild, sporting place teeming with
every kind of game. Here he learnt how to trap
badgers and otters, and every form of venery, and
spent many days among the Donegal Mountains after
wild swans and geese. After leaving Harrow he went
to a tutor in Northamptonshire, and while there he
learnt how to ride well to hounds under the tuition of
the best horseman in England, Jim Mason. In 1862
he was rapidly approaching his majority and decided
to travel, selecting Switzerland for his first trip, followed
by one to Norway ; and in October of the same year
started on a shooting expedition to Southern India,
extending over sixteen months.

On the 5th January 1864, while still in India,
Brooke came of age, and in his absence his brother
Harry represented him at a great dinner given to the
tenantry. In February he reached Colebrooke, and
had not been there a month before the old thirst for
sport and adventure overcame him, and with his
brother he planned an expedition to Africa. They
started for London to make arrangements, stopping a
week in Dublin on the road. But here all his plans
were entirely altered by his meeting at a party his
future wife, Miss Bellingham, daughter of Sir Alan
Bellingham, to whom he became engaged shortly
afterwards, and whom he married on the 28th July of
that year.

Brooke's engagement to Miss Bellingham was of a
decidedly romantic character. At the party mentioned
he pointed out to his brother and his cousin, Hastings
Brooke, a young lady, and used these words : " Do

8 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

you see that girl sitting on the sofa ? Mark my words,
she will be my wife ! " No case of love at first sight
ever ended more happily, and the affection engendered
at their first meeting only grew and strengthened
throughout their married life.

The next four years he passed at Colebrooke,
interesting himself greatly in the estate whose large
extent, 32,000 acres, gave him plenty of occupation.
His guardian, Mr. George Brooke, had handed it over
to him in the highest order, advantage being taken
of his long minority to carry out every improvement
and satisfy every reasonable requirement of the
numerous tenantry. The Colebrooke estate had never
been highly rented, and in after years, when Sir Victor
sold the major portion under the Ashbourne Act, no
difficulty occurred with the tenants, and after the lands
passed out of his hands, they extended to him the same
good feeling and affection as when he was still their
landlord.

During these years his love for natural history
continued unabated. Winter and summer he gathered
fresh stores of information, particularly in all that
concerned the deer tribe. From his childhood he had
been familiar with the habits, weight, and growth of the
fallow deer, with which the Home Park and Deer Park
at Largie had been stocked since James I.'s time, and
on his return from India he started a herd of red deer,
getting some from Lord Hastings and some from Raby
and Stoke. The weight and size and noble proportions
of the heads of the descendants of these deer struck
with admiration every one who visited Colebrooke.
In 1870 Brooke purchased five hinds and one stag of
Japanese deer, adding later three more stags. In 1891
they had increased to three hundred ! In them he took
an immense interest, and it was his invariable custom, in

COLEBROOKE

the latter years of his life, on Sunday afternoon to go
to the covert they most frequented, and from a hill in
the centre watch them feeding in the open glades
below him.

At Castle Caldwell, previously mentioned, a romantic,

h

lovely spot on the north-western point of Lower Loch
Erne, Brooke found ample opportunity for the pursuit
of a great variety of wild-fowl, and secured specimens
of every species that was known to visit that part of
Ireland.

Here also his brother and himself were given every
facility by their hospitable host for stalking the wild
fallow deer that roamed unmolested over a vast extent
of rough covert and broken ground, only coming out
to feed in the gloaming and stealing home just as the
dawn was breaking. This form of sport particularly
delighted Brooke, as requiring the greatest knowledge
of woodcraft and the highest attributes of a sportsman.
One old fallow buck that he had christened " Zageddee,"
from the peculiar character of his head, defeated him
for nearly a month. He records in his diary how late at
night and before dawn he watched for him, sometimes
catching a glimpse of him, but never able to get a shot,
till at last, in the gray light of a September morning,
with the dew still heavy on his coat and horns,
" Zageddee " was stalked and killed. His journals at
this time and for many years afterwards, until he was
compelled to live a great part of the year abroad, are
filled with most minute notes of the birds and beasts
he shot or observed, and most accurate accounts of
the growth and appearance of all the deer in the
Demesne and Largie.

Few houses in Britain showed more distinctly their
owner's proclivities than Colebrooke : from floor to
ceiling, in hall and passages, and many of the rooms,

io SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

heads of every variety were to be seen ; the greater
number shot by himself or his brothers, excepting a
very fine series of sambur shot by General Douglas
Hamilton. Amongst them bison, wild boar, moufflon,
Neilgherry ibex, Pyrenean bouquetin, and every known
variety of red deer, and a collection of Himalayan and
Thibetan animals, including markor, barahsing, ovis
ammon, burrel, etc., shot by his brother Harry, with a
grand series of roe's heads killed by his brother Basil,
and over the chimney-piece in the hall the huge horns
of an Irish elk and two enormous German red deer,
which he had purchased. Besides these were cases
containing two of the tigers he had killed in India, and
the famous black panther, and, most valued of all, the
monster tusk of the great elephant, whose mighty bones,
brought home from India a year after, lay in weighty
massiveness round the foot of the billiard table. Any
fresh guest, paying a visit to Colebrooke, was invited to
put up with one hand the largest bone — a feat difficult
of attainment, not on account of its weight (56 Ibs.),
but owing to its awkward size and shape, requiring
knack and skill in balancing it. Most of us, I
remember, managed to do so, but many powerful men
found it difficult until they had acquired the knack
of it.

Amid such surroundings, with his young wife and
family, Brooke spent the first seven years of his married
life ; in the winter of 1868-69 he had to go abroad on
account of Lady Brooke's health. It was in that year
that the first symptoms of her delicacy became
apparent, and they were recommended to winter in
the Riviera, and chose Bordighera, where his brother
Basil joined him.

Along this coast run the Maritime Alps, and the
brothers found ample room for sport after wolves and

THE BIG TUSK.

To face page 10.

I SCIENCE AND ATHLETICS n

badgers, and for fresh researches in natural history, the
love of which had clung to them from childhood ; with
the elder brother it was in the following year to become
a serious study, owing to his chance meeting with Sir
William Flower, and from that time to the year 1879
he devoted himself to scientific subjects. Up to that
date Lady Brooke had been able to live in Ireland,
with occasional winters abroad ; but at last it became
imperatively necessary to choose for her some per-
manent residence in the south of France, and finding
that Pau suited his wife's health better than any other
place, he determined to make a home there, ultimately
buying the Villa Jouvence, where he resided with his
family for the after years of his life — only paying visits
to Colebrooke in the summer and autumn. But his
eldest son, the present baronet, after returning from
America in 1885, took over the management of the
estate, and on his marriage resided there permanently
with his wife.

Before Brooke went to Pau, his friend, Lord Lilford,
had told him of excellent ground for bouquetin
(Pyrenean ibex), on the Spanish side of the Pyrenees,
at the head of the Val de Broto, above the village of
Torla. And to this district and its neighbourhood he
made a great many expeditions, accompanied by his
brothers, Basil and Harry, and latterly by Mr. Arthur
Post, a very popular American gentleman residing at
Pau. Mr. Post, to the regret of his numerous friends,
died in 1884. It was in May 1878 that Brooke first
visited the Valle'e d' Arras, which he describes as of
extraordinary beauty and grandeur. It runs out of
the Val de Broto, and he returned to it repeatedly in
subsequent years with ever-increasing pleasure.

Throughout his life Brooke took the greatest interest
in physical exercises, and up to the time his health

12 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

failed he joined in all sports with a vigour and zeal
that seemed to take no account of the passing years.

The powers that, as a boy of 5 ft. 7 in., enabled him
to jump 5 ft. 6^ in. increased in after years, and attained
their greatest development in the year 1870, when, in
the London Fencing Club at Cleveland Row, he jumped

5 ft. 10 in., and afterwards cleared the bar put up to

6 ft, but knocked it down with his hand in de-
scending.

Mr. Godfrey Pearse led the regular athletic class at
these rooms, and Brooke took his place in his absence.
I have always heard him describe Mr. Pearse as the
most graceful athlete he ever saw. Brooke's physical
strength was also very great, and his brother, Captain
Harry Brooke, witnessed him lift the big dumb-bell
(called Burnaby's baby), weighing 120 Ibs., off the floor
and put it straight up over his head with one hand and
with slow motion without jerk. A wrestling bout gave
him the greatest pleasure, and he was always ready to
try a fall with any one whose reputation gave promise
of an exciting struggle. In his younger days at Cole-
brooke he heard there was a noted wrestler, a policeman
at Clones, some 20 miles off, who had beaten every one
who had tried a fall with him. Brooke promptly sent
him a challenge, and after a desperate struggle succeeded
in defeating him. It is easy to picture the enthusiasm
of the Irish peasantry on the occasion at seeing the
local representative of the law measuring his length upon
the ground. Though not an extremely fast runner, he
was not far behind the best ; and the following perform-
ance at the age of thirty-eight showed how little his
muscular energies had left him with the lapse of time.
The account of it is given in a letter to his brother-in-
law, Mr. Wrench, and tallies accurately with the descrip-
tion of it given to me by many eye-witnesses.

HURDLE-RACE AT PAU 13

" VILLA JOUVENCE, PAU, Sunday.
MY DEAR FRED —

The Yankees one night in the Club were blowing
real hard at a certain great hurdle-race runner, a
Canadian who was in Pau, but whom they would not
name, challenging any one in Pau in general, and me
in particular, to run him. He was described as having
run twenty-two races, and only lost two. I could not
stand it, so took up the challenge, stipulating, however,
for 200 yards and ten flights of 3 ft. 6 in. hurdles, each
hurdle to be strengthened at the top by a heavy builder's
plank, 1 8 yards between the hurdles and 20 yards run
in. The ordinary is, as you will remember, 120 yards,
ten flights of hurdles 3 ft. 3 in. in height, the hurdles
delicate things that a man can break. The Canadian,
Young, took up the challenge for his backers, and 200
francs a side was put on it, and the race fixed for 1st
inst. At 10.30 on that day the Plain was swarming,
and the greatest possible excitement existed. At the
start Young darted away like a bolt, and I saw at once
that he had the foot of me by a good bit, which I was
prepared for. The first four hurdles he cleared beauti-
fully, going at top speed, I following within my speed,
and consequently losing ground fast, though by my
flies at the hurdles, some of which were 15 or 16 feet,
I gained a little of what I lost in the running. At the
fifth hurdle, as he deserved, Young hit the plank, and
was sent sprawling on to the grass, and my moment
was come. As quick as a weasel Young was on his
legs again, and we went almost side by side over the
sixth, which he hit hard. I had now rammed on all
the speed, and flew the hurdles one after the other in a
frantic way, hearing the Canadian hitting each hard

14 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

about 5 yards behind me. At the ninth a louder crash
told me that something had happened, and I afterwards
learnt that my brave Young had turned a complete
somersault over the obstacle. I held on, but felt that
I was about done ; to rise at the tenth hurdle my legs
absolutely refused, so I threw myself over it, got up,
staggered forward, and fell again on the flat, rose on my
hands and knees, and saw the winning post about 10
yards on, and heard the yells of the bystanders on all
sides. I knew I could not stand, so keeping my eyes
on the place scrambled forward on all fours, and threw
myself head over heels over the line. In a few moments
I was all right again, and stood more danger of being
torn to pieces by my friends, in fact the entire British
community, than by any other after effects. Young was
far worse after his fall over the ninth hurdle ; he nearly
fainted, and it was long before he came round. My
calculations had been correct, and the extra 3 inches of
the hurdles and 80 yards in the race saved me, though
the great pace I was obliged to go at to win was very
nearly too much for me. I need not say it is the last
race I shall ever run."

In all games he took the keenest interest, and when
lawn tennis was first brought into notice, Brooke pur-
sued it with his wonted vigour, and was one of the first
members of the Committee of the All England Lawn
Tennis Association at Wimbledon, and never afterwards
missed being present at the championships.

In 1880, some years before the present furore for
golf arose, he was struck with its undoubted merits, and
in England, Scotland, and Pau went through that course
of heavenly joy and deep depression which the rest of
golfing mankind never fails to experience.

It is difficult to understand how a game that for

I THE DEATH OF HIS BROTHER 15

centuries had been the delight and pride of Scotchmen
should have remained so long neglected south of the
Border. It is true it had been played for two hundred
years at Blackheath, and for some little time at Hoylake
and Westward Ho, but these clubs were practically
supported by Scotchmen, and it is only of very recent
years that the golfing iron has entered into the soul of
Englishmen. But at Pau, thanks to the late Colonel
Anstruther, a golf club had existed for more than a
generation, and that and the lawn tennis club situated
on the lovely Plain de Billere, received the full measure
of Brooke's support and assistance. During the time
he was captain of the golf club it increased largely in
numbers, and the quality of the green rapidly improved,
so that of late years it has become one of the best, if
not the best inland green in Europe.

In 1884 the greatest sorrow of his life came to him
when his brother Basil died.

In his letters and diaries the name is frequently
mentioned, but it would not convey to the reader what
such a loss meant to him. From boyhood his brother
had been his chosen companion, and on every available
opportunity they had joined in the same sporting
expeditions, sharing the same danger and hardships.
With tastes absolutely in common, they had studied
natural history together, and played the same games
with equal enthusiasm ; and when Brooke was com-
pelled to live more or less at Pau, his brother had taken
much of the burden of the estate off his hands. No bond
of union ever knit two brothers together more closely.

The illness that sundered it for ever originated in
a trip that Basil Brooke had taken to Mexico. This
illness developed immediately after his return to Scot-
land, where he resided with his family, and he was
before long in imminent danger, but recovered suffici-

1 6 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

ently to be brought to London by his wife and brother
for further medical advice. For some weeks, with the
help of the greatest medical science and the most
devoted nursing, the struggle between life and death
was fought, but unavailingly, and on the 3rd August he
passed away. During that time his wife and brother
never left him, and it was very touching to see the big
strong man, for Brooke then was in the prime of health
and strength, nursing his dying brother with all the
gentleness of a woman. I speak of these things
from my own knowledge, having been present and
permitted to share their sorrow and care throughout
the illness.

He was buried at Colebrooke, and with him passed
away much of Brooke's joyous nature. The old home
that had been so endeared to them both was never the
same to him afterwards.

It was this grievous loss that made Brooke turn to
hunting as a sport that had no sad associations attached
to it. In the winter of 1884 he had some horses over
from Ireland, and hunted with the Pau hounds, and
the following year accepted the Mastership.

Mr. Frederick Maude, whom he succeeded, had
much improved the sport by substituting the wild fox
whenever possible for the bag foxes that had been
previously used on the days no drag was run. Brooke
carried on this great improvement, and paid the peasantry
liberally to preserve the foxes, and taught them how to
stop the earths. All the Bearnais round about would
have done anything for him, and with their help he
transported from the Coteaux over seventy vixens,
loosing them in the middle of the hunting country ; and
by dint of many spare days spent in learning every
inch of the district, he was able to show rare sport,
accounting in seventy-one days' hunting for thirty-seven

AS M.F.H. 17

brace of foxes. The new entry of hounds consisted of
fourteen and a half couples — seven and a half couple
from the Woodlands Pytchley, six couple from the
Carlow hounds, and a grand couple of 26-inch young
dog hounds, a present from Lord Fitzhardinge from the
Berkeley. At the end of the season the Pau hunt pre-
sented him with a magnificent silver tankard.

The two following seasons were equally successful.
Although a very hard rider he had hitherto escaped
without any severe falls, but in the last year of his
Mastership he broke his collar-bone, and there is little
doubt in some way injured the lung.1 As soon as he
could ride again he was out with the hounds, but a bad
cough developed. With care it might have cured itself,
but care and Victor Brooke were far apart, and as soon
as he was able to get on a horse he resumed his duties
as Master ; for some time he struggled on, fighting with
an illness that refused to be thus lightly treated ; as
long as he could ride to the hounds, he stuck to it, but
strength failing he entrusted them to a member of the
hunt.

Week after week his cough increased, and at last
became so serious that he determined to go to London
and consult the late Sir Andrew Clark, an old friend of
many years. Sir Andrew's opinion of his illness was
very grave, and he ordered him at once to Egypt, as
the only chance of effecting a cure. In March f 88 8,
when he set sail, his condition seemed very alarming.

1 There is no doubt, besides the injury to the lung from the broken
bone, he had all his life tried his extraordinary physique too severely, and
something in time was bound to give way. Mr. Maude has assured me
that over and over again Brooke, coming in after a long day's hunting, '
would spend the best part of the night seeing the earths stopped in the
district he was going to hunt next day, so as to ensure good sport in the
morning. Only ten days after the broken collar-bone, with the top of his
lung injured by it, he spent a snowy night following foxes through the deep
snow in the Bois de Sauvagnon.

i8 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

Captain Arthur Brooke l and myself saw him off from
Gravesend, and we had sad forebodings that we might
not see his kindly face again, so emaciated and worn
did he seem. However, the fine desert air acted as a
wonderful restorative, and he was able to return partially
cured. In the autumn of that year, 1 888, he was, how-
ever, still too unwell to resume the Mastership of the
hounds, and, urged by his doctor, spent the next winter
at Cairo with Lady Brooke. There is no doubt that
he might have increased his length of life very much if
during that time he had devoted himself entirely to
recovering his health. But to a man of Brooke's
temperament it was impossible to spend his life in
preserving it, and as soon as he felt himself again com-
paratively strong, he set to work to shoot the foxes and
wolves in the desert close at hand. In March he went
on a brief expedition after ibex in the hills near Suez,
and during the month of April carried out a long-
cherished wish to make a journey to Palestine.

Few of all his numerous friends knew how deep-
rooted a belief Brooke had in the faith of his childhood.
The researches he had made in studying the past
zoological history of the world, the friendships he had
formed amongst men of all kinds of religion, and of
those whose faith had left them, had not for one
moment shaken his own views, and when the opportunity
came of visiting the Holy Land, he gladly seized it.

Old as the subject is, and familiar as the scenery has
become to Christians of all nations, it still possesses an
undying interest. The simple, earnest faith with which
he so lovingly describes the hallowed spots, lends a charm
to his narrative that will appeal alike to those who have

1 Flag-Captain Arthur Brooke, C.B., Sir Victor Brooke's first cousin,
son of Mr. George Brooke and Lady Arabella Brooke. Captain Brooke
died in 1893.

SERIOUS ILLNESS 19

already trod the sacred country, and those who have
still unsatisfied the longing to see with their own eyes
the birthplace of the Christian religion. As he writes,
we "feel that to him, at least, the hero of the world's
greatest tragedy is still a living presence. In imagina-
tion the centuries roll back, and the deserted places
are peopled with the human life of old, and amid the
ruins that looked upon his Redeemer, he seems to
hear the hosannas still floating through the air. No
trip he ever made gave him more pleasure, and I some-
times think that his broken health and consciousness
that few years might be left to him, gave a solemn
interest beyond that accorded to the most earnest
observer.

I do not propose in this brief summary of the salient
features of Brooke's life to do more than allude to the
political warfare that raged in Ireland over the question
of Home Rule. The subject has been ventilated in
every form, and there are few to whom the details are
not more or less familiar. To him, as to every one in
Ireland who had a stake in the country, it was a vital
question, and from the first he set himself with the other
leaders of public opinion in Ulster to endeavour to
defeat the crude schemes for Irish Government that
distracted the country, and, as he said in one of his
speeches, " fostered animosity between class and class."
At the meetings of the Irish Loyal and Patriotic Union,
and on various platforms in the North, he expressed in
graphic language and far-reaching words the intense
conviction he shared with so many, that Home Rule
meant ruin to the tenant as well as the landlord, to
the smallest merchant as well as the largest dealer
in commerce, and worst of all, would leave a legacy of
hate that no time would heal. At the first meeting of
the Landlords' Convention held in Dublin he was the

C

20 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

seconder of the principal Resolution, and spoke with an
intense earnestness of conviction and graphic power of
language that stamped him as one of those that have a
natural gift of oratory. I have mentioned previously
that the circumstances of his life prevented this power
being devoted to the service of the State, but no record
of his life would be complete without mention being
made of his possessing those qualities that would have
gone far to make an English statesman.

After the passing of the Ashbourne Act, Brooke felt
that the relative position of landlord and tenant in
Ireland must enter upon an entirely new phase. For
three hundred years the Brookes had administered their
property in Fermanagh with a just regard to the well-
being of those renting the land under them ; and the
old feudal feeling of being a father to the people had
been handed down from generation to generation.

Professor Huxley, in a letter written to Lady Brooke
after her husband's death, thus alludes to the kindly
relations existing between landlord and tenant on the
Colebrooke estate : —

I had a very great esteem and affection for your
husband ; others will speak of his scientific work,
but one of the impressions of him that remains most
strongly on my mind, is connected with a visit to
one of his poorer tenants during the pleasant days
we spent with you. One morning news arrived that
Pat Somebody's holding had come to grief. We
drove over to the scene of the catastrophe, and it
was a sad sight enough. The cabin and potato
ground lay on the side of a gully, pitched there
seemingly on the " where it don't matter " principle.
But in vindication of the opposite rule of action, a
heavy storm had broken in the night, filling the
gully and flooding all around, evicting poor Pat

I THE LAND QUESTION IN IRELAND 21

without notice, and playing the mischief with his
plot of ground.

What struck me, as a cold-blooded bystander, was
the matter-of-course expectation on the part of the
tenant that " Sir Victor " was the Providence who
would put everything straight, and the equally
matter-of-course acceptance of the part by the land-
lord — kind, thoughtful, and energetic about this
business, as about all others, in which I ever saw
him engaged.

I thought to myself that here, at any rate, the Irish
landlord did not belong to the type depicted by
certain political Nationalists — fierce, brutal, selfish,
in fact carnivorous, except for the want of the right
teeth.

Subsequent events therefore surprised me more
than enough. I have done my best to think of my
generous, kind-hearted friend as one of the oppressors,
but quite in vain. The dull Saxon imagination is not
equal to the feat And my recollections of Sir Victor
on this occasion have had a great deal to do with the
doubt I have permitted myself to entertain, whether
patriotism and veracity are necessarily associated
across St. George's Channel.

Thus, as Professor Huxley says, in sorrow and
trouble, poverty and distress, the tenants had come
to their landlord for sympathy and relief; but under
the Act, when the tenant had fixity of tenure, and
could go beyond the landlord to the Court and have his
rent settled, all the amenities of owning property and
sense of responsibility were taken away. The landlord
was no longer a free agent, no longer master of the
lands that had descended to him from his ancestors.
Brooke felt this keenly, and was one of the first to sell
his estate to such of his tenants as wished to purchase,

22 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

only intending to retain the Demesne and Deer Park of
Largie in his hands. The terms offered to them were
such that the large majority purchased their holdings.
The proceeds of these sales necessitated investments,
and he determined to visit America and inquire into
their securities.

Towards the end of April 1890 he started, accom-
panied by his eldest son, who was familiar with some
of the places he proposed to visit, having spent some
time studying horse -ranching at Calgary. Brooke's
health at this time was far from being restored, and it
was a great relief to his wife that he was not going
alone. Much as he looked forward to the trip, and
valuable as was the information he hoped to procure,
yet it did not do away with an increasing disinclination
to be far away from his wife and children ; his buoyant
nature made him speak cheerfully of recovery to strong
health, but I cannot help thinking he had forebodings
that all was not well. His first letter to his wife after
starting shows the effort it had been to him to leave : —

"HOTEL CONTINENTAL, PARIS,
Saturday, i^th April 1890.

Those horrid good-byes, they take a lot out of one ;
I wish I had never settled to go away, and still one
would be really foolish not to make an effort to see a
bit of the old Globe, and yet does the jeu vaut la
chandelle, when one has to leave all one loves and
give them pain ? "

This trip to America extended over some months,
and though much of it was over familiar ground, his
description of the great natural features of the country,
and the glorious trees that never ceased to strike him
with admiration, deserve recording. In Europe he had

I LAST DAYS AT COLEBROOKE 23

studied the same species, as it were in miniature, and
one can understand the pleasure it gave him to see the
same kinds in America almost unrecognisable from their
vast height and size. He also gained much information
on the subject which had been the principal object of
his visit, and repeatedly speaks of the great hospitality
and kindness shown to him by American friends and
acquaintances.

With Brooke's trip to America his diaries and letters
of general interest ended, and there is little to tell of
the last year of his life. On his return he had spent
the autumn with his wife and family at Veule, on the
coast of Normandy, and the following winter at Pau.
He was scarcely strong enough to take any severe exer-
cise, but managed to ride to the meets, and do a certain
amount of hunting ; later on he improved in health and
was able to take bicycle rides with his son Victor without
great fatigue. In all sports and amusements of those
around him he took the same interest, but it had to be
more or less as a spectator. Lady Brooke's health had
for many years prevented her returning to Ireland ; but
she was so much stronger in the summer of 1891, as to
be enabled to spend it at Colebrooke, and once more
there assembled under the old roof -tree the three
generations of the family. His son Ronald, in the 7th
Hussars, was home from India, and his brother Harry
and his wife, and his sister-in-law, Mrs. Basil Brooke,
were welcomed once again to the old home, by the
bright, hearty greeting that was soon to be met with no
more. When much else has faded, how his kindly
welcome will linger in the memory, and with it recollec-
tions of the grasp of his hand that never failed to meet
you on the threshold. And so the summer passed,
surrounded by so many that were dear to him, and amid
the scenes familiar to him from boyhood.

24 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

As the autumn came on the family returned to Pau,
and he remained with his son Douglas and his wife to
entertain a shooting party, and afterwards to pay some
visits. All went well till the end of October, when he
broke a blood-vessel ; this had occurred twice before
while in America ; the local doctor took a serious view
of it, and warned him that he must cease all exertion
and go out to Pau at once.

Early in November he reached London and rested
for a day or two, dining with me the night before
starting. The bleeding had not recurred, and he
seemed to be fairly well and in good spirits. There
was only his nephew, Brinsley Brooke, present, and I
remember that the conversation was principally of
delightful old days he had spent with Sir William
Flower and Professor Huxley ; little did we think that
we were holding communion for the last time with that
bright, eager nature. He was to start for Pau in the
morning, and I saw him off; he looked very ill, and
told me that an hour before there had been a severe
recurrence of bleeding. Hasler, his valet, was very
anxious about him, and it seemed inadvisable to take
so long a journey ; but he would go, and perhaps the
mild southern air held more prospect of relief than any
advantage a temporary rest might have given, and so I
bade him good-bye. It is well, in a record intended to
be devoted entirely to his memory, that I should not
intrude any private feelings, but few men have bidden
farewell to a friend with a sadder heart than I did to
him that day.

He reached Pau in safety, but for some days was
dangerously ill ; however he recovered rapidly, and got
so well that by the middle of the month he was able to
get on a horse and ride to the meet a few times, an
exertion that ought never to have been taken. But the

HIS DEATH 25

lines must have been present in his mind — " Better to
break by the running stream than to lie on the dusty
shelf." And so the end met him ; the restless eager
spirit impelled his frame to the last, and one November
day he came home to die. A brief interval of acute
inflammation of the lungs, and then on the 23rd the
bright, enthusiastic nature passed away. How happy
for him that the wife he loved so tenderly should have
been there to hold his hand to the last.

His death evoked the deepest regret and sympathy
at Pau ; no foreign resident had made it so completely
his home, or done so much for the attractions of the
place. At the Memorial Service held before the
removal of his remains to Ireland, the church was filled
with those who had known him, and the municipality
of the town was largely represented. All that was
beautiful in that country of flowers was laid in tender
recollection upon his coffin, and amid the mass of
sombre surroundings the scarlet of the officials of the
Pau hunt stood out in marked distinctness, meet and
appropriate representatives of all the gallant sports he
loved so well.

The funeral took place at Colebrooke, and over two
thousand people attended it. None of the bitter feelings
of the land question had ever touched his property, and
though his tenantry had largely passed from under his
sway and become masters of their holdings, yet the
old affection for their landlord survived. From the
thickly-populated lowlands to the far-off grouse moun-
tains, they came with one accord to do him reverence.
Large numbers were there, too, who had no connection
with the property, including a prominent land league
Member of Parliament. Some years before Victor
Brooke had made a new family burying-place adjoining
the churchyard ; his brother Basil, who had carried out

26 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP, i

his wishes about it, was the first to be buried there, and
then their mother, the Honourable Lady Brooke, and
now he was himself laid to rest between them. It is.
an emerald sward standing on elevated ground looking
over the whole Demesne — around lie the woods that he
had known from childhood, and close by the home
endeared by a thousand recollections. Few sounds
disturb that quiet spot, and it looks very peaceful in the
summer evenings, as the sun sinks over the hills by
Loch Erne, and reddens with its last rays the wild
heather planted above his grave.

CHAPTER II

Sir Victor Brooke's Scientific Life and Work.
By Sir William H. Flower, K.C.B., F.R.S.

I FIRST met Sir Victor Brooke one Sunday afternoon
at the Zoological Gardens, towards the end of the year
1870. He was walking with the late Edward Blyth,
formerly curator of the Calcutta Museum, one of the
most enthusiastic zoologists of our time. Blyth intro-
duced me to him, and I was at once struck by the
charm of his manner, his keenness of observation, and
his genuine love of animal life in all forms. At that
time he was purely a field naturalist, and the sportsman
predominated over the man of science. I asked him to
come and see me at the College of Surgeons, which he
soon did, and the sight of the skeletons and anatomical
preparations in the Museum kindled an eager desire to
undertake a more thorough study of the subject than
he had hitherto had the opportunity of doing. I was
then commencing a course of lectures on the teeth of
the mammalia, and he became one of the most regular
and attentive of my audience, both for that year and
several subsequent years, always taking the same seat
in the front row, with notebook in hand, and remaining
after the lecture to examine the specimens on the table
or discuss points of interest that had been spoken of.
As he had not gone through a University course,

28 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP

systematic study of this kind was new to him, but he
threw himself into it with all the energy of his nature,
and soon gained a considerable insight into many
departments of comparative anatomy, which he re-
cognised as the basis upon which a knowledge of the
affinities of animals must be founded. Although, in his
published contributions to Science, he confined himself
solely to that group to which he specially devoted his
attention, the ruminating animals (oxen, antelopes,
sheep, and deer), his interests and sympathies in
natural history had a much wider range, and his
eagerness to acquire knowledge of every kind was
unbounded. Conversation with him, therefore, often
took the form of a severe cross-examination ; but the
I delight with which he hailed the acquisition of any new
fact or the solution of any difficulty, was an abundant
reward for any pains taken in conveying information to
him. Want of knowledge of the languages in which so
many of the works on Natural History he wished to
consult were written was at first a great drawback to
his progress. With characteristic resolution and ability,
however, he set to work to overcome the difficulty, and
a competent acquaintance with French, German, and
Italian, was acquired by him before long with this sole
purpose in view.

In 1873 the subject of the lectures was "The
Osteology and Dentition of extinct Mammalia, with
their geological and geographical distribution and
relations to existing forms." This for the first time
brought him into contact with some of the prominent
facts of geology, which interested him greatly. In a
letter which I have by me referring to this course, he
writes : " To say how I enjoyed your lectures would be
simply impossible ; the view gained from them will
always be remembered as a landmark in the path of

II HIS SCIENTIFIC LIFE AND WORK 29

my zoological knowledge. I do trust we shall manage
the trip to the Isle of Wight ; it would be too delight-
ful ! " This refers to a suggestion that I had made to
him, as up to that time he had never done any
geological work in the field, to take an opportunity of
realising by actual observation some of the phenomena
which had been discussed in the lectures. We engaged
the late accomplished geologist, Mr. John Morris, to
accompany us, and give demonstrations on the spot of
the relations of the different strata to each other and
the characteristic fossil remains found in each. Unfor-
tunately Mr. Morris was at the last moment prevented
by illness from coming, but Brooke and I went
together with the excellent guide and map of the
Geological Survey in our hands. We had a very
pleasant time exploring the whole coast-line of the
island, and afterwards the famous Hordwell Cliff on the
mainland, dear to British palaeontologists as one of the
few localities in the country for Eocene Mammalian
remains. We searched in vain for a tooth of Pala-
plotherium. I believe the discovery of one on that day
would have made him happier than was ever the finder
of one of the largest diamonds in South Africa.

In the summer of 1875 my wife and I paid our
first visit to Colebrooke, staying there a fortnight, and
a very happy time it was. The collection he was
forming had already acquired considerable dimensions,
and he was then deep in the study of the classification
of the ruminants. We spent all our mornings in the
Museum mainly over skulls and teeth, carefully
comparing, measuring, noting, and drawing, in the
endeavour to find distinctive characters, capable of
accurate definition, by which the various groups could
be distinguished. It was a delightful quest though
full of difficulties. So often it happened that when we

30 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

seemed to have cleared up some intricate point and had
elaborated a careful definition of some special form of
tooth, characteristic of a particular group, a troublesome
exception would turn up, and we had to begin again and
try to discover something more reliable and constant.
In the afternoon we took long walks through the
grounds and park, and looked at the living deer and
other wild creatures which abounded there. The
sympathetic interest that Lady Brooke took in all
her husband's pursuits added much to the pleasure of
the visit. She encouraged him greatly in his scientific
studies, and never seemed so happy as in witnessing
the delight he took in them.

In August 1878 the British Association for the
Advancement of Science met at Dublin, and Sir Victor
Brooke took an active part in the work of Section D,
Biology, over which it was my lot to preside. He
read a paper on " Certain Osteological Characters in
the Cervidae, and their probable Bearings on the Past
History of the Group." The paper was not published,
but much of the information contained in it was after-
wards incorporated in a paper communicated to the
Zoological Society referred to presently.

When the meeting was over, Professor and Mrs.
Huxley, my wife and I, went to Colebrooke and spent
a very agreeable week there. One morning Professor
Huxley gave us a demonstration of the anatomy of the
crayfish, from specimens fished out of the stream that
runs through the park. He was just then engaged in
preparing his well-known monograph on that creature,
and was naturally very much at home with it. Sir
Victor, Lady Brooke, and all the children formed most
attentive spectators and audience. Although our host
lost no opportunity of questioning the professor on
subjects of science, he also, in his turn, gave us much

II HIS SCIENTIFIC LIFE AND WORK 31

valuable information on the social and economic condi-
tion of Ireland, which Huxley was equally keen to
learn from him ; and I think that, on the whole, there
was as much talk on history, politics, and the various
social problems of the day as on biology or the natural
sciences. The Irish question was then beginning to
get serious, and Huxley seemed determined to get at
the root of the whole matter ; and it was during this visit
that both he and I became convinced of the errors of that
policy which has since been identified with the name of
Mr. Gladstone. Certainly up to this time Colebrooke
seemed to be a model estate, and nothing could be
happier than the relations of the landlord with his nine
hundred tenants.

Sir Victor Brooke was engaged for some years
in collecting materials for an exhaustive monograph on
the antelopes, sheep, and goats. With this object he
visited most of the continental museums and made
copious notes on the specimens belonging to this
group of animals contained in them. He also care-
fully studied all that had been written about them
by previous authors, and had brought together a large
number of extracts and translations from works in
various languages bearing upon the subject. Unfor-
tunately his work was interrupted by the state of Lady
Brooke's health compelling him to leave England for
the greater part of the year. The specimens in his own
large collection were all in London or at Colebrooke,
and away from them and from the books necessary
for continuing his researches, he was obliged, though
reluctantly, to give up what had been for several years
the principal object of his life. After the year 1880,
or thereabouts, he did little more in science ; but, as will
be seen by the preceding memoir, transferred to
foreign travel and other pursuits the energy he had

32 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

previously thrown into that of natural history. He
never, however, lost his interest in it, and always clung
to the hope that the opportunity would return when he
might take up and complete what he had so well begun.
The quantity of manuscripts he left behind him is
evidence of an immense amount of industry, but un-
fortunately their fragmentary condition and the length
of time that has elapsed since they were written, during
which the increase of knowledge has advanced with
rapid strides, make it impossible to publish them
with any advantage, as his friends at one time hoped
might have been done.

While the work was in contemplation, he took great
pains and went to considerable expense in securing the
services of some of the best zoological artists available, to
draw on stone a large number of illustrations both of com-
plete animals and of details of skulls, teeth, etc. These
fortunately have been preserved, and have been most
liberally placed in the hands of Mr. P. L. Sclater and
Mr. Oldfield Thomas, to illustrate a work on Antelopes,
which the first of these gentlemen had projected many
years ago, but which was set aside during the period
of Sir Victor Brooke's scientific activity, in the hope that
it might have been accomplished by him.

List of Sir Victor Brooke's Published Contributions
to Science

On Speke's Antelope and the Allied Species of the
Genus Tragelaphus. P. Z. S. {Proceedings of the
Zoological Society of London), 1871, p. 482.

This paper, though the first that Sir Victor Brooke
published, shows throughout signs of the thorough
manner in which he had entered into the work, and of
the progress he had already made in mastering the

ii HIS SCIENTIFIC LIFE AND WORK 33

methods of research and difficulties of the literature.
He has collected all the information obtainable from
the examination of specimens and from books for the
discrimination of the three then known species, and
their geographical distribution, and gives an excellent
woodcut of the horns of each, and a coloured plate, from
a drawing by Wolf, of T. euryceros. A characteristic
personal reference near the beginning of the paper is of
interest. After mentioning that Mr. Sclater, who had
described Speke's Antelope from very imperfect materials
as long ago as 1864, had "subsequently collected some
MS. notes on the subject, which he intended to form
into a supplementary paper, more fully describing
the species and its allied forms," he adds : " These
notes, however, he has lately in the most generous
manner placed in my hands for consideration, knowing
my special interest in this branch of zoology."

On Hydropotes inermis and its Cranial Characters as
compared with those of Moschus moschiferus.
P. Z. 5., 1872, p. 522.

A very clear, concise, and discriminating anatomical
description of the skull and teeth of this curious and then
little known Chinese deer, with conclusions as to its
affinities to the other members of the group.

On a supposed New Species of Gazelle from Eastern

Africa. P. Z. S., 1872, p. 60 1.
The original description of the fine antelope Gazella
granti Brooke, compiled from notes and drawings by
Captain Speke and Colonel Grant, no specimen having
at that time reached this country.

On the Royal Antelope and Allied Species of the
Genus Nanotragus. P. Z. S., 1872, p. 637.

34 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

Contains an exhaustive account of the literary
history and synonymy of Nanotragus pygmeus, the
smallest of all the antelopes, and a comparison of its
characters with those of the allied species, illustrated by
a coloured plate and woodcut of the skull.

On a New Species of Antelope living in the Society's
Menagerie. P. Z. S., 1872, p. 874.

A previously unknown antelope from the Gambia,
described and figured under the name of Nanotragus
nigricaudatus.

On African Buffaloes. P. Z. S., 1873, p. 474.

A paper throwing much light upon a small group
of animals, the history of which was hitherto in a state
of confusion. The literature had been thoroughly
studied and the specimens contained in the principal
continental museums examined. Professor Peters is
thanked " for the indefatigable kindness and hospitality
I experienced from him during my stay in Berlin."

Exhibition of Skins, Skulls, and Heads of Cervus
antisiensis. P. Z. S., 1873, p. 518.

On the Antelopes of the Genus Gazella and their
Distribution. P. Z. S., 1873, P- 535-

This paper not only contains a minute analysis of
the characters of the known species or "persistent
modifications," as he prefers to call them (nineteen are
recognised), but also an attempt to show how the theory
of evolution offers a reasonable manner of accounting
for the present differentiation and distribution of the
group. For this purpose the literature of the extinct
species of antelopes has been explored, and the works
of Wagner, Falconer, Gaudry, Gervais, and Huxley are

II HIS SCIENTIFIC LIFE AND WORK 35

quoted. The conclusions are illustrated by a table
indicating the supposed genetic descent and distribution
of the gazelles.

On Sclater's Muntjac, and other Species of the Genus
Cervulus. P. Z. 5., 1874, P- 33-

In this paper the special description of the three
species of Muntjac is preceded by an interesting ana-
tomical disquisition upon a peculiarity in the bones of
the tarsus or ankle joint by which Cervulus is dis-
tinguished from most of the other Pecora, and the two
different modes of reduction of the outer metacarpals
in different species of deer (more fully developed in
a subsequent paper) were first pointed out. The
paper is illustrated by one coloured figure and many
woodcuts.

On a New Species of Deer from Persia. P. Z. S.,

1874, p. 42.

The horns of Cervus caspicus described and figured.

On a New Species of Gazelle living in the Society's
Menagerie. P. Z. 5., 1874, p. 141.

Gazella muscatensis — described and figured.

Remarks on the Identity of Certain Deer in the
Society's Collection. P. Z. S., 1874, p. 606.

Having examined the type of Cervus savannarum at
Berlin, he came to the conclusion that an animal living
in the Society's gardens had been erroneously referred
to this species.

On a New Species of Deer from Mesopotamia.

P. Z. 5., 1875, P- 261.

D

36 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

A description, with figures, of Cervus (Dama) meso-
potamicus, a spotted deer closely allied to the fallow
deer, but with less palmated horns, founded upon the
specimens obtained by Mr. Robertson, the English
Vice-Consul at Busrah.

Supplementary Notes on African Buffaloes. P. Z. S.,
1875, p. 454.

Since the publication of the paper on " African
Buffaloes in the Society's Proceedings for 1873," "a
large mass of material," Sir Victor says, " has passed
under my observation, enabling me in some degree to
confirm, and in some degree to modify, the opinions
expressed in that communication." He describes the
characters, synonymy, and geographical distribution of
the three forms which appear to him to be recognisable
— viz. Bubalus pumilus, of Western, Western - equa-
torial, and the northern parts of Central Africa, B.
(zquinoctialis of North-Eastern Africa, and B. coffer of
Africa south of the equator — and concludes by stating
that it is not improbable that they all grade into each
other on the confines of their respective geographical
ranges.

Exhibition of Original Drawings of Two Species of
Koodoo ( Tragelaphus strepsiceros and T. imberbis).
P. Z. S., 1 875, p. 470.

Supplementary Note on Cervus mesopotamicus.
P. Z. S., 1876, p. 298.

Description and figures of four additional antlers
sent by Mr. Robertson.

On Cervus schomburgki (Blyth). P. Z. S., 1876,
P- 304-

ii HIS SCIENTIFIC LIFE AND WORK 37

Contains some additional information upon this little
known species of deer, with figures of a normal and
abnormal pair of antlers, and also some observations
upon the effects of castration upon the growth of
antlers of deer in general.

On the Deer of the Philippine Islands, with the De-
scription of a New Species. P. Z. S.y 1877,
P- Si-

The author commences by saying that, " With per-
haps the exception of the simple-horned deer of South
America, comprising the subgenus Coassus, there is no
group of existing Cervidce, concerning which our know-
ledge is so inexact and so fragmentary, as that relating
to the small Rusine deer of the Philippine Islands.
With the desire of remedying this defect as far as
possible, I have for some years paid particular attention
to the subject, and during several visits to continental
museums have enjoyed (thanks to the great courtesy of
their conservators) ample opportunities of studying the
materials bearing upon it which they contain. I regret
that the result of my investigation is not more satisfac-
tory, and it is solely in the hope that an exposure of
the nakedness of the land may attract the attention of
future naturalists travelling in the Philippines to the
subject that I venture to lay the following notes before
the Society." The paper is exhaustive both as to
literature and description of specimens, as far as the
material permits, and is illustrated by three plates and
a woodcut.

On Gazella granti. P. Z. S.t 1878, p. 723.

A full description, with figures, of the head and
horns of the species previously described from less
perfect materials (suflm, 1872, p. 60 1).

38 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

On the Classification of the Cervidce, with a Synopsis
of the Existing Species. P. Z. S., 1878, p. 883.

This is quite the most important of all Sir Victor
Brooke's contributions to science. It extends over forty
pages of the Proceeding^ and is abundantly illustrated
with figures of all the characteristic forms of deer's
antlers, and contains the results of a large amount of
work and thought upon the zoology, anatomy, and
palaeontology of the group. It is divided into five
sections: — (i) Introduction. (2) On the division of
Cervidce into sections larger than genera. (3) On the
subdivision of the sections into minor groups. (4)
Geographical distribution and remarks thereon. (5)
Synopsis of the existing Cervidce. The primary divi-
sion of the Cervidce is based upon the condition of the
rudimentary lateral metacarpals. In one group the
proximal, and in the other the distal, portion of these
bones only is present.

On a New Species of Gazelle from Western Africa.
P. Z. S., 1878, p. 929.

Gazella walleri — described from the skull and horns
only, which are figured.

In conjunction with his brother, Basil Brooke. — On the

Large Sheep of the Thian Shan and other Asiatic

Argali. P. Z. S, 1875, p. 509.

An important paper, containing much information

collected from various sources, upon a subject involved

in great difficulty. An abstract of the laborious and

careful researches of Mr. Severtzoff (whose papers had

been translated from the Russian for the purpose) is

given, and the skull and horns of several of the species

are figured. The species described are Ovis poli (Blyth),

O. kareleni, heinsi, and nigrimontana (Severtzoff), O.

ii HIS SCIENTIFIC LIFE AND WORK 39

ammon (Linn.), O. hodgsonii (Blyth), O. brookei (Ward),
and O. nivicola (Eschscholtz). The first four occur in
Turkestan, the others in different parts of Asia. O.
brookei (Ward, P. Z. S., 1874, p. 143) was founded on
a skull and horns in Sir Victor Brooke's collection,
supposed to come from Ladak, and so named " out of
respect to the assiduous labours undertaken by that
gentleman, who is now engaged in the production of
a monograph of the sheep, illustrated by Mr. Wolf."

Besides the above papers contributed to the Pro-
ceedings of the Zoological Society, the following were
published elsewhere : —

On the Dwarf Buffalo of Pennant (Bos pumilus}. Ann.
Mag. Nat. History, vol. xiii., 1874, P- I59-

On the Existence of the Fallow Deer in England during
Pleistocene Times. Nature, vol. xi., 1875, p. 210.

The antlers of Cervus brownii, a deer living in
England in the Pleistocene period, cannot be dis-
tinguished from those of the fallow deer (C. dama)
generally supposed to have been introduced by the
Romans.

CHAPTER III

Journals of Norway and Sweden, including Ascent of Sneehatten
and Perilous Attempt to climb the Virgin Peak of the
Vaugacullen.

AGE 19.

IN the year 1862 he left England for a trip in Switzer-
land ; but as the tour was over familiar ground and did
not possess any special feature of interest, it is not
necessary to allude to it further. On his return he
immediately made preparations for a visit to Norway,
and commences his diary as follows : —

On Monday, i6th June 1862, I left England for
Norway and Sweden. The object of my tour was to
get a thorough insight into a country which, compara-
tively speaking, is very little known, and to fix deeply
in my mind the topography of one of the most lovely
countries in the world. I intended to devote more
time to Norway than Sweden on account of its
superiority in natural scenery. Having only just
returned the Monday before from a most delightful
tour in Switzerland, the intervening week was a
scene of preparation for my intended trip. This
proved a much greater business than I had any con-
ception of, especially having planned another trip to
follow close on my return, viz. to India. I had,
therefore, to settle things for it as well.
He went by Brussels, Cologne, and Hamburg? to

CHAP, in THORWALDSEN'S MUSEUM 41

Copenhagen, where Thorwaldsen's Museum seems to
have awakened in him the greatest admiration.

This is the sight of the North ; it is of its kind un-
rivalled. Well, indeed, may his countrymen be
proud of such a man. He was the son of a poor
carpenter from Iceland, and was born in Copenhagen
in 1770. His genius prompted him to go to Rome,
where he designed his first statue, Jason. This
being seen by Mr. Hope of London, he was so
struck by its beauty that he ordered it in marble,
and from this moment his fame was established, and
commissions poured in upon him. His collection is
in a building of Egyptian architecture, and very
ugly ; round it are painted different events in his life,
and over the door is a bronze statue of Fame drawn
by four horses. Within the building there is a
courtyard, in the centre of which Thorwaldsen lies
buried. . . . The number of his works collected here
is 650. They are mostly classical, and beautiful in
the extreme. To stand there, and think that this is all
the work of one man, and that he is lying buried in
the middle of them, impresses serious thoughts upon
one. His most beautiful works, I thought, were the
statue of our Saviour and those of the twelve
Apostles, substituting St. Paul for Judas ; these he
presented to the Church of Our Lady. Our Saviour
is standing over the altar, as if looking down on the
congregation ; the expression of the face is most
beautiful — a mixture of gentleness and majesty. No
one could look upon the face without a feeling of
reverence and awe involuntarily coming over him.
From Copenhagen he proceeded to Christiania, and
thus speaks of his first view of the coast of Norway : —
On going on deck we found ourselves close to the
coast of Norway. I was by no means disappointed

42 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

with my first glimpse of the object of my journey ;
wildness in the extreme was the prevailing feature
in the scenery, rocky islands covered with heath ;
the air was delightfully clear, and everything looked
quiet and still ; in fact, one of the most striking
features about Norway is the stillness of the mountains
and forests. Fredericksberg is a lovely spot, situated
at the western entrance of the Christiania Fjord ;
the scenery is splendid, the mountains running all in
gentle slopes, never exceeding I ooo feet, are covered
with forest, chiefly pine — the wood begins right from
the water's edge. . . . The islands are numerous,
but so blended with the mainland that it is almost
impossible to detect them. This, of course, takes
greatly from the effect. If the islands were more
detached, parts of the Fjord would much resemble
the upper Lake of Killarney.

At the time Victor Brooke was in Norway there was
only a small piece of railway open from Christiania to
Eidsvold, and the rest of his journey was done by
steamer and carriole to Lillehammer, Lechervark, and
Dumboas, where he turned off the Throndhjem road to
the sea at Romsdal. Of the valley running down to
the Fjord he speaks as being " the finest thing he ever
saw ; the mountains rising in sheer precipices to the
height of 4000 and 5000 feet, and topped by craggy
peaks covered with eternal snow."

Returning to the main road, he describes his first
view of Sneehatten, and determination to make the
first ascent that year. The feat in itself was not
remarkable, but deserving of notice for the endurance
displayed and determination of character in one so
young. There is no doubt that his experiences in
Switzerland and in Norway in relation to mountain-
climbing, particularly his gruesome adventure in the

in ASCENT OF SNEEHATTEN 43

Lofoden Islands, gave him great confidence and
resource while pursuing chamois, ibex, and moufflon in
after years.

"NORWAY, \bthjune 1862.

The ascent of the Dovre Fjeld begins here, and in
about one and a half hour's time you reach the begin-
ning of the plateau, which is nothing more than a large
flat plain of moorland, with nothing but waste and
desolation as far as the eye can stretch. On each side
this desert land is lined with mountains ; on the north
side we first saw the Norwegian Mont Blanc, Snee-
hatten. It looked a magnificent mountain, covered
with snow from top to bottom. I was determined the
moment I saw it that I would make the ascent the
next day. From the Fjeld was just visible a small
black spot on the top, which, I found, is supposed to
be an extinct crater ; this, of course, would make my
expedition of double interest. Jerkin was reached
about eight o'clock. It is a capital station ; by far the
best along the road. It consists of about three houses,
all belonging to the same man. We ordered dinner,
which made its appearance in a short time, and con-
sisted of reindeer's steaks ; they are capital, not unlike
venison, but of a much wilder flavour. While at
dinner up drove two carrioles, and then a third, and in
them were three Dutchmen. As I looked at them
from where I sat, I saw they were wiry, strong-looking
fellows, and I began to get a little uneasy about my
expedition to Sneehatten, about which another anxiety
had presented itself since my arrival — namely, that of
first ascent, as I had heard the instant I arrived that
no ascents had been made this year, as the mountain
was in a very bad state, owing to the snow and cold.
This, of course, made me all the more anxious, as I said
before. My determination was immediately made up,

44 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

which was that it should not be my fault if an English-
man was not the first as usual, even in so trivial a matter
as the present case. I called my courrier, and told
him I meant to start that very night, and should be
quite ready in one hour's time. He talked about cold,
etc. etc.; but I was not going to be deterred, so away
he went to get guides, etc. Exactly at 10.30 I was in
the saddle and off, much to the disgust of the Dutchmen.
I had two guides ; one to guide me to the base of the
mountain, which was fourteen English miles off across
the trackless Fjeld, the other to help me in the ascent.
I also took with me lots of provisions in the shape of
hard eggs, black bread, brandy, and port wine. Having
heard the cold was intense, almost unbearable, as the
top was approached, I had put on my warmest shooting
coat and big sailor's jacket, also my waterproof gaiters
and a wideawake hat. The ride to the foot of the
mountain was truly wild ; in fact, to any one who really
enjoys nature in her wildest haunts, what could be more
glorious than picking your way across a 14 -mile
desert of nothing but rocks of the most fantastic
shapes rising in every direction out of the stunted
heath, surrounded with mountains on all sides ? All
the time the object of our expedition stood straight
before us like a gigantic ghost, seeming to get farther
away the faster you go to reach it. The light also
added to the wildness and strangeness of the scene —
everything looked distorted into unnatural shapes ; it
was just the kind of light that would make one
mistake a house for a mountain 2000 or 3000 feet
high. Just as we got on to the snow three animals
glided swiftly away from under a ravine. I took them
for wolves, but upon them coming a little nearer into
the light I saw they were three magnificent reindeer.
They soon stopped galloping, and, settling into their

in ASCENT OF SNEEHATTEN 45

long easy trot, pulled up on the top of a snowy knoll,
and turned round, taking a quiet survey of my party.
This was almost too much for me ; the temptation was
strong to return, procure a rifle at any trouble, and, no
matter what time or trouble it cost me, get that
glorious head to hang in my room, so that when a lazy
old beggar, not caring to go anywhere, I might quietly,
from my bed, where I should be dozing with the
sun streaming in on my weatherbeaten * phiz ' at ten
o'clock A.M., feast my eyes on such a satisfactory
souvenir of one of the most delightful expeditions it
ever came to my privilege to go through ; but it was
no use, I knew. First of all, the utter impossibility of
getting a rifle ; and, secondly, the enormous difficulty
of getting near these icy monarchs. They will some-
times trot 50 miles away when disturbed, and any one
who has travelled in Norway knows what that means.
So on we went, and at last, after traversing large un-
broken fields of snow and scrambling still on the
ponies over rocks big and small, all lying in heapless
confusion, we reached the place where the animals were
to be left It was under a large rock, the only one
visible of any size for miles round ; all the rest were
covered or all but covered with snow. Here I took a
small pull at the brandy and black bread, my guide
who was to accompany me a big one. I did not as yet
feel the cold much. We then started — 1.30 o'clock.
Now the walking was not so bad ; our way leading us
through long tracts of snow. Then the real climbing
be^n ; it was not very steep, but every step you went
you ran the no slight risk of spraining or breaking your
ankle. I never saw snow in such a bad state ; it was
very deep and very soft, sometimes letting us down to
our waists, sometimes to our ankles among nasty
jagged rocks under it. We had about one and a half

46 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

hours of this, then much firmer walking for an hour
over very hard snow. It was, I suspect, naturally as
soft as the snow below, only it was frozen by the
intense cold. I never knew what cold could do till I
was up there ; my port wine was icy cold, almost
frozen ; the flakes of snow blown in my face froze
immediately, giving me a good deal of pain, especially
my ears (my left ear did not get quite well for some
days after). It was not, however, near bad enough to
make me think of giving up my object, so we stuck to
it, and presently we came to such hard work that, not-
withstanding the cold, I was thrown into a violent heat ;
the snow had, I fancy, fallen in the night and had not
had time to freeze, and in consequence we had in some
places regularly to force our way through the snow.
The sun rose about this time, and it was a most wonder-
ful sight. There we were, the only two human beings
within miles round, clinging to the frozen mountain;
snow being blown all round us by an icy wind ; all the
snowy mountains round being lit up ; clouds were racing
round the bottom of Sneehatten ; the top was every
now and then visible to our aching eyes against the
gray sky. It was certainly enough to satisfy my lust
for wildness. In about one hour more we gained the
top. As you approached near to it, it reminded me
greatly of that of Mont Blanc — that of a round cone ;
but when on it, it ran in the form of a ridge along
the top of the sides of the crater, into which black
abyss you looked. There were, however, clouds rolling
about inside, so that we could not see the bottom.
The view from the top would no doubt have been
splendid, commanding as it does the whole of the
Dovre Fjeld (' Fjeld ' is the Norse word for mountain
range) ; but we were not fated to enjoy this sight to
perfection, as it was only now and then we could get

in ASCENT OF SNEEHATTEN 47

even a glimpse through the clouds which were blown
round our heads. The cold was awful ! I should not
have been able to bear it had it not been for the per-
spiration I was in, caused by my previous exertions. I
could not, however, leave the top till I had pushed my
way through the snow to the top of the peak which
extends to the other side of the crater, and it is sup-
posed by Forbes to be the higher point of the two.
This I do not think is the case ; in fact, I am sure it is
not.

We then started for the descent, which we made
the same way we came. The view was splendid ; what
was dim in the early morning was clear and shining in
the sun, and everything looked cheerful and bright
after the wild, cold, windy perch we had just come
down from. At the bottom we lost our way, and had
no slight difficulty in finding it, but after many rattling
(in every sense of the word) falls, and the slow, tire-
some work of tracking our own footsteps for 2 miles
or so, we found the horses and man all nearly frozen.
Here we were glad enough to have another * Specer,1
having been seven hours at least up to our knees in
snow. It was four o'clock when we reached the
summit, seven when we joined the horses, and 1.30
when we started. The ride home was tiresome, wet
and almost frozen as I was. I was rather tired, having
had hardish work the last fifty '-two hours, and only two
hours' sleep. We arrived at Jerkin about 9.30."

From Throndhjem he went by steamer to Hammer-
fest :-

The sunset about this time began to get beautiful,
the tinge of deep orange never leaving the mountains
and sea till the sun made his appearance again, which
he did in about one hour. I shall never forget the

48 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

first view of the Lofodens, stretching as they do

150 miles S.W. The sun was setting at the back

of them, and the outline of their jagged peaks stood

out in hard relief against the sky.

To these islands he returned from Hammerfest and

spent some days there with fellow-travellers whose

acquaintance he had made on the road. Together

they ascended many of the peaks in the neighbourhood,

all of considerable difficulty, owing to their excessive

steepness. But the highest, Vaugacullen, was still to be

attempted, with what result the following account from

his diary will tell. There is no doubt his immense

muscular power and capacity for standing fatigue saved

his life on that occasion.

"NORWAY, 1862.

Breakfasted and then rowed off to examine Vauga-
cullen, the highest peak in the Lofodens. What charmed
us so much about it was the reputation it bore for
danger among the Norwegians. Tradition said that one
man was killed on it, and that two Englishmen tried it
some time ago but without success ; they found it
utterly impracticable. No doubt, the supposed fatal
accident, coupled with the dark precipitous look of the
mountain or rock, for it was nothing but a huge rock,
gave it the name which it bears of 'the dangerous
old man/ It was seven English miles from Swolvear,
which distance we had to row of course. Clay and
Bicknall stopped about the foot of the mountain
sketching, while I set off on a voyage of discovery. I
was not able to see much of what I came to see — viz.
some way that looked practicable from the bottom — so
commenced with my glasses to climb a portion of the
shoulder as a kind of lookout from which I might make
some useful discovery, if there was such a thing to be
made, as to the line I should take when I attacked

in THE VAUGACULLEN 49

his majesty. It was uncommon hard work, that self-
same climb ; but no doubt I thought it harder than it
really was, having had a hardish scramble instead of
sleep all the night before. Gigantic ferns — growing
on a slope so steep, that had it not been for
these ferns, I don't think I could have got up, —
pushed me back in the most rough and uncouth
manner ; but they must be excused on the plea that
it is seldom indeed that they see visitors ; but I was
not going to be beaten by them. I had fixed my
eye on a place from which I could see (as I thought)
all the mountain, and get there I was determined I
should ; so at last, after passing one or two ticklish-
looking places, I arrived safe and sound on the little gap
that I had marked with my glasses from below. What
was my disgust when I found that I was cut off from the
real Vaugacullen by a deep black ravine, the sides being
formed by gigantic precipices. It looks as if the mountain
had been split in two, rendering it, as I at once saw,
perfectly inaccessible to anything at this side. I then
examined the part I had come up, and found that I
had most likely come up the only accessible way, which
was, in fact, nothing more than a narrow niche, in which
ferns had grown, and by pulling yourself up with these
you managed to get up a place that otherwise no one
could have got up. After examining as much as I
could of the mountain, I retraced my steps and found
Clay and Bicknall in a great fright, thinking something
must have happened to me, as I had unintentionally
stayed away three hours. The row back in the boat
was dreadfully cold work. The next morning I
started early for my friend again. I enjoyed the row
there immensely ; I had a much better boat and men
than the night before, and I was only too glad of
having another opportunity of examining the mountain.

50 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

I could not make up my mind which side I would attack
him at all ; the side I saw looked inaccessible, so
after a little indecision I made up my mind to go
round to the side farthest from the sea and take my
chance of finding some way there, by which I might
reach the top. Now to get there was the next
question ; this was no easy matter, all the mountains
round rising in black staring precipices as if to guard
their king from the ( aspiring foot of man.' The
only way I could rely upon was to try and scale a
black, ugly -looking ridge, at the far side of a
basin hemmed in by mountains and filled with huge
boulders of rock which at different times had come
down from the ' old man.' If I could manage this, I
saw it would be the easiest way to the part of the
mountain I wanted. Accordingly, when I came oppo-
site to the valley or basin, I made the men row me in ;
and after putting my wraps, etc., in a log hut that
was uninhabited, and telling the men to wait till I
returned, I set off with some biscuits in my pocket and
a flask of port wine, determined to do the best I could.
My road lay, as I before said, over huge rocks ; this, the
sun being unusually hot, I found very trying work ; it
was one continual set of jumps from one stone to
another, and as it lasted for about 3 miles, I was not
sorry to sit down amongst the last rocks and take out
my glasses and examine the work. Before it looked a
bad enough precipice from the sea, but it looked ten
times worse when I found myself just under it, straining
my eyes and neck in the effort to find some kind of a
way up. This I found it was impossible to do ; I could
not see what would do for a foothold and what would not
from where I was ; I must set to work and climb till I
found myself stopped ; and then, as I knew quite well,
the chances would be that I could not get down again.

in THE VAUGACULLEN 51

This I know was foolhardy, but the lesson it ultimately
taught me was cheaply earned however — viz. that it is a
piece of unjustifiable rashness to attempt to ascend any
mountain known to be so dangerous and difficult alone,
— one man cannot stand the work, even if he manage by
some great chance to get a certain way without a
serious accident ; this, even if I did not think of, I
did not appreciate at that time, so I turned up my
sleeves and began. For some way I managed pretty
well ; I was fresh, and the climbing was pretty
easy, owing to some small ridges, with a little
scanty grass growing on them ; these, however, soon
stopped, and all I could get to hold on to were
mere inequalities in the rock, all very well for a short
time ; but, as I found nearly to my cost, wonderfully
trying and tiring when the strain lasts for nearly two
hours. There was only one place where I could rest ;
there I threw myself down, squeezing myself between a
projecting rock and the side of the mountain. After
resting for a minute or two I examined my situation. I
must own it was not an enviable one. I had, with the
greatest difficulty, climbed into a place from which I
saw no possible way of getting out. With one glance
I saw that to descend, even had I wished to, was
impossible. What was to be done ? I was about
three-quarters of the way up, and if I could only climb
20 feet higher, I could easily reach the top of the
ridge. I looked about for some minutes, and I must
say my investigations did not raise my spirits. I
never saw a more awkward place ; to go to the left
was impossible, nothing but the wall of a precipice
presented itself to me ; to climb straight up was
equally impracticable, as the rock slightly projected ;
to the right was my only chance. The great difficulty
consisted in getting across a great slab of vertical rock

E

52 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

which was too wide to step across and offered no little
ledge on which I could rest my foot. Half-way there
was one small ledge just as high as I could reach above
me, and another as far as I could reach with my Alpen-
stock below me. I saw these were my only chances,
and that the sooner I tried it the better ; so leaning
down I placed the point of my pole firmly on the
ledge, leaning all my weight on it to try it ; it seemed
firm as iron. I then stretched my left hand above me
and caught the top ledge. I tried it with the same
result ; it was as firm as iron. All now depended on
myself; propped up by my right hand and pole, and
held by my left, I had to swing my legs across the smooth
slab on to a small, strong ledge on the far side ; it was
a trying moment. Had the pole broken I must have
gone with a ' whiz ' on to the rocks, some 450 feet
below me. The pole, however, did nothing so un-
pleasant ; it merely bent, causing a very unpleasant
feeling as I lit safely on the aforesaid ledge, which
position I nearly lost as soon as I had gained it, and
in the effort to sustain my equilibrium, nearly dropped
the pole ; they happily were all ' nearlies.' The rest of
the climb to the top was comparatively easy, very
steep, but good ledges projected here and there, giving
me capital hold and footing ; with the help of these
c luxuries ' I reached the top of the ridge. I have
called it a ridge as yet, and I have done right ; it
certainly is and always was, I suppose, a ridge ; so
narrow was it that, exhausted as I felt, I had to clasp
it firmly with my legs and lie flat on my face ; I took
a mouthful or two of port, and after getting a little
rested, took out my glasses to examine as usual. I
found that the knife-like ridge I was on ran towards
the Vaugan, but was cut off from it by a ravine similar
to the one I had seen the day before ; these ravines are

THE VAUGACULLEN.

To face page 53.

in THE VAUGACULLEN 53

perfect characteristics of the mountain ; it seems sur-
rounded with them ; in fact, it is like a huge sugar-loaf,
with all the sides separated from the loaf by a sharp
knife and left standing. I suppose these curious rocks
in the mountain were formed long ago, when all the
Lofodens, as well as Norway, were locked in ice. Be
that as it may, they were regular stoppers to me, not
that, I think, even if the cleft were not there that side
would be practicable, made up as it is of sheer smooth
precipices standing as it were one on the other.
These observations did not take me long to make ; the
next I found a good deal more puzzling — that was how
to get down from where I was, and when down what
line I should take ; to go back the same way I
came I knew to be impracticable, so before taking, any
further trouble about the mountain, I set to work to
try and make out a line by which I might return to
the boat. All I could see was that the wild valley
into which I was looking was hemmed, like the one I
had left, with perpendicular precipices ; one small gap
I saw was my only outlet ; the ascent to this in one or
two places was very steep, but practicable ; how the
other side might be I did not know, but I would have
to take my chance for that ; as to the Vaugan, I could
see more of that below. Below ! how in the world was
I to get there ? The west side of the ridge was if any-
thing more perpendicular, certainly more destitute of any-
thing to hold on by, than the side I had come up ; but
it had one great advantage, namely, that of being not so
high ; this was of the greatest consequence for this one
reason — the length of time it would take. What I was
most afraid of was exhaustion ; if I got tired of holding
on I was done for ; this I should certainly have done
had I attempted the old side, supposing the descent
practicable, which I don't think it was. The new side

54 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

consisted of two precipices, divided by a kind of slop-
ing plateau, about 6 feet wide, on which I might rest ;
this plateau was about 100 feet or so below me.
After looking at several places, which I did by crawling
along the top of the ridge, I at last fixed on a part
that did not look quite so steep as the others. I
examined it well before I settled on it, which was more
than necessary, as I saw, if once I started, I could not
possibly get back again. Assured that it was my best,
indeed my only chance, I sat down, with my back to
the rock, and putting my pole down as far as I could,
poked about till it caught on something firm ; before it
did this, however, it dislodged several stones which
took a couple of jumps, and the next minute were
dashed to pieces on the smooth glacier-marked rocks
below me. Having no wish to imitate these un-
fortunate victims to my climbing propensities, I took
the greatest care, and so in a way which I never since
could clearly recall to my memory, got half-way down
the first part; then came a very awkward place — the cliff
went so straight down it was impossible for me to
continue my descent in the same manner that I had
started, which slow and particularly uncomfortable
mode of progression I had not been able to change.
Now came the necessity for doing so ; squeezing one
knee and part of my leg into a kind of hole, I gently
lifted my alpenstock, on which I had been resting my
whole weight, using it as a kind of prop, and placing it
across my chest from left to right like a bar, and taking my
knee out of the hole the moment I had the pole fixed, I
swung gently round and caught a ledge with both my
hands, letting my pole drop, which, of course, never
stopped till it got to the bottom ; this was a great loss
to me, as I most certainly could not have got as far as
I had done without it. I was now about 20 feet

in THE VAUGACULLEN 55

above the place I had marked out for resting on, but I
hope I shall never take as long to go 20 feet again.
Once or twice I thought I must have dropped from the
exertion of holding on ; at one place I held on for a
moment and seriously meditated letting myself fall, with
the chance of catching the ledge ; but I saw it was use-
less to think of it ; my stick when it fell took no notice
of it, but slid over it like lightning. At last I reached it,
but found that I could not stop on it ; it was covered with
loose crumbly earth, on which I slid towards the brink
of the precipice. Tired out as I was, I saw it would
never do for me to risk losing my senses either in sleep
or fainting, for I felt unpleasantly like the latter once
or twice ; I suppose from the great exertion, coupled
with the unusual heat of the sun. Accordingly I at
once set to work to descend the last part ; it was about
100 feet more. I managed it somehow, but how I
cannot tell. All I know is, I looked at my watch as I
sank, completely done up, at the bottom on the snow (it
was the first place where it was not too steep for snow
to lie), and found that four hours, by no means of the
shortest kind, had I been clinging tooth and nail to
those delightful (?) rocks. Delightful or not, I was not
sorry to be under instead of on them. I never
admired a view more than I did that moment.
Presently I fancied I heard the most exquisite music,
like a glorious band in the inside of the mountains.
I was almost beginning to fancy I had been transported
back into the days of fairies, and that a castle, etc. etc.,
was going to rise out of the earth, in which some
angelic princess was to be found who would welcome
the weary traveller, as having been the first to scale the
mighty barrier which divided the land of mortals from
the heavenly land over which she reigned supreme, for
which gallant act he was entitled to be rewarded by

56 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

her own fair hand. Yes, this must be the case, thought
I, as I heard the hum of myriads of wings ; these, no
doubt, are her fairy messengers sent to summon me
to her gentle presence. But no, I was too soon un-
deceived ; a sharp pain upon my unromantically warm
forehead quickly brought me to my senses, and upon
opening my eyes, the first thing that met their hazy
glance was a great, long-legged mosquito very busy on
the bridge of my nose. No doubt the poor fellow, who
still stuck to the old system of doctoring, thought he
was doing a kind act in thus restoring my slightly
scattered senses ; if so, the beauty of the proverb, ' Virtue
is her own reward,' must have struck him forcibly in all
senses of the word, as my finger descended upon his
devoted head. Upon sitting up and rubbing my eyes
I soon found an explanation to the sounds I had
heard. Hundreds of mosquitoes surrounded me, and I
have no doubt it was the buzzing of their wings, which,
though not a welcome, is by no means an unmusical
sound, that seemed to my overstrained nerves like
sounds of music ; it was not a time to indulge in such
fancies — I must make up my mind what to do. The
thing to be settled was, which shall I do ? Give up the
Vaugacullen and set off to find my way home which
I knew would prove a long job, or still persist in trying
to make good my object? After having again resorted
to my old friend the opera-glasses, I decided on the
latter, at the same time making up my mind to two
things. First, to take care and not get myself into
such a mess again as I had just escaped from ; and
secondly, never to attempt alone to ascend a bad
mountain again. Had I had a trustworthy companion
with me, nearly all danger might have been removed
by alternately holding a rope while the dangerous
places were being passed. My best way lay up a great

in THE VAUGACULLEN 57

snow slope, every bit of which I had to cut steps up,
the snow being hard and slippery. This I found
extremely tiring, having no one to relieve me (as
is always the custom in Switzerland). However, I
managed to reach the top of it, when another cliff had to
be scaled ; this was rather too much, having had quite
enough of crags for one day ; one thing was evident,
however, which was, it was the only way up, so it had
to be climbed. It was steep but not really dangerous,
there being plenty of niches to put my feet on ; it was
my last push however. On reaching the top I found
another long steep snow slope, up which steps must be
cut, and then a tremendous precipice. I saw it was
useless ; tired as I was I could never have managed,
and so, not wishing to spend a night on the side of a
precipice not unlike the one that had given me so
much bother that day before, I reluctantly gave it up.
Had I had a companion we might have managed, but I
could not say for certain. Taking out my compass, I
made out about the line to be taken ; of course I would
keep as far as possible to the line I had made out
from the top of the ridge. This was over a small
narrow pass ; the approach to it was very steep,
but a green slope lay right up to it, on each side of
which there were craggy rocks, in some places very
precipitous. This latter was much the shortest, and
after considering the two I fixed on it ; I afterwards
found wrongly, for though the other was longer, it
would have been easier work, considering the amount
of the same kind of climbing I had had already that
day. I found it dreadfully hard work ; I never re-
member being so tired. Several times I had to lie
down, but dared not stop long for fear of falling asleep,
when a roll over would have most unsatisfactorily
ended my expeditions ; but * Come what come may,

58 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP, in

Time and the hour runs through the roughest day.'
The pass was gained and passed, and nothing but a
long stiff winding walk lay between me and the
boat, and consequently my Aftensmag (supper). The
only place of any difficulty was the pass ; this was
nothing, and was amply repaid by the view of the Vest
Fjord — a light purple tinge covered everything, lighting
up the snowy mountains on the mainland. This died
softly away, leaving the dull gray look that the moun-
tains in the north of Norway have at night. I was too
tired to stop long, but pushed on and reached the boats
at twelve o'clock P.M., and Swolvear at one, finding old
Clay, with his head out of his window, anxiously
expecting me."

Before leaving the Lofodens he mentions the way
the inhabitants have of getting from one island to the
other upon what he describes as snow shoes, in the
form of canoes, upon each foot, and the balance kept
partly by the feet and partly by a long paddle. These
shoes resemble what so many people have seen lately
at Captain Boyton's Water Show.

From the Lofodens he went to Bod 6, and there
planned an excursion into Lapland, with his friend
Clay, including an ascent of Saletjelind, the highest
mountain in the polar circle, but bad weather and
Clay's illness prevented them, and he had to content
himself with shooting excursions to some neighbouring
islands. At Veblungsnoes, near Romsdal, he joined
a stalker named Erick, and went with him into the
mountains in pursuit of reindeer. Here the Journal
ends, and I have no record of what luck attended
them.

CHAPTER IV

First Portion of Indian Trip — Extracts from Journal and Letter
to his Sister relating to the Man-eating Tiger

AGE 19.

ON the 2Oth October 1862 Brooke started on his
sporting expedition to India, a trip that he had looked
forward to with intense pleasure. The best information
had been procured for him as to the most favourable
districts for big game. His original plans had included
Bengal as well as Southern India. Later on, however,
he found that if he were to return to England in time
for his majority, Bengal must be given up. On reach-
ing Madras, towards the end of November, he proceeded
to Mysore, and there received information that raised
his enthusiasm to the highest pitch. For three years a
man-eating tiger had been devastating the country around
Benkypore, a place near Shimoga, 150 miles north of
Mysore ; two hundred natives had been killed, and the
great trunk road rendered impracticable for travellers.
Hitherto no success had attended the many efforts
made to destroy him ; only in one instance had the
tiger been seen within shot.

Though far from confident that he could succeed
where so many had failed, Brooke determined to see
what he could do, urged on by the dire suffering and
loss sustained by the poor natives.

The Chief Commissioner of Mysore, on hearing of

60 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

Brooke's intention, placed every assistance he could
render at his disposal, and the Rajah lent him elephants
and shikarees.

Thus provided he started for the district inhabited
by the tiger, stopping a short time on the road at
Asikere, Kadur, and Tarikere, where he made his first
acquaintance with Indian game.

" KUDDOR, MYSORE PROVINCE,
NUGGUR DIVISION, S. INDIA,
1 2th December 1862, Friday.

Yesterday evening I shot and bagged my first head
of Indian game. Having arrived from Arsekiere about
four o'clock P.M. I lost no time in getting out my small
Moore rifle (one I had bought on purpose for antelope
shooting), and set off alone to try and stalk a black
buck antelope, which deer I heard abounded in a large
flat plain covered with small bushes between Kuddor
and the Barbalriddan Hills. I walked away at a great
pace, and for some time in vain. At first I kept a
very sharp lookout, but the glare of the sun soon
rendered this very distressing to the eyes. As I was
walking with my head down, trying to see tracks on
the hard baked earth, I heard a rush, and looking up
I saw a beautiful black antelope bounding along, fol-
lowed by two does ; they were about I oo yards off,
and gave me a most difficult and uncertain shot, as
they did not go in a straight line for 10 yards,
hopping over the low, stunted bushes like india-
rubber balls. I fired both barrels after the lovely
creature, but missed him completely, and had the
satisfaction of hearing my balls go * ping ' across the
plain as I watched the tip of those much-wished-for
horns gradually disappear. Making the best of it, I
loaded and, sucking an orange, determined to keep

iv INDIA 61

a sharper lookout ; it was, I began to fear, in vain,
as the evening was just drawing to a close. Just as
I had given up all hopes and was making my best way
to the bungalow I looked to my right, and there I saw a
herd of about twenty-five antelope standing looking at me.
Where was their lord and master ? — not a sign of him ;
I dared not wait, so took a steady aim, and my little
conical went crash through the brain of an old doe. I
fired the other barrel through the smoke at another, but
with no result. As the smoke died away I looked up,
and there I saw the old buck of the herd looking at
me. I knelt down, loaded as fast as possible, but lo !
he was gone, and in the distance I saw several airy
forms almost flying through the air, and at their head
was one more lovely than all the rest, sailing along
with apparent ease, reminding me of the sea-gulls in a
storm in the * Bay of Biscay O ! ' However, half a
loafs better than none ; in like manner, a doe antelope's
better than no deer. This deer gave me one of those
wonderful instances of the tenacity of life in all animals
of the genus Cervus. Though my bullet had gone
right through her brain, she bounded about in a mad
manner, and I had to send two more bullets before the
fairy-like form was quiet. Her skin was worth having,
so she must be got home at all hazards. The only
way it could be done was to shoulder the beast myself,
so I swung it over my shoulder and trudged home, a
distance of about 3 miles, and any one who has
carried hares that distance can give an idea of what
sort of work carrying an antelope must be, especially
in India. Old Gough had news for me when I came.
Three tigers had taken up their abode in some huge
boulders of rocks close to the town, and one of them
wandered about the town at night. To-morrow morning
I intend going to examine the place, and see what can

62 SIR VICTOR BROOKE

CHAP.

be done. We found the venison of the antelope un-
commonly good. Like most game, it must be either
used at once or kept some time. Men have been sent
out to look for the tigers, so that if they see them
they can bring me back word, or kubber, as it is
called here.

This morning Gough and I started at 5.30 to
examine the place where the tigers are supposed to
be. We found it to be a mass of rocks, with bits of
jungle dispersed here and there. It was a very ugly-
looking place to shoot a tiger, as to get at him it was
necessary to either walk clean up to the mouth of
the cave they were supposed to be in — while rockets
were let down to drive them out — and shoot him as
he charged, the chances of which were greatly in
favour of the tiger ; or else to sit in a mechaun at
night, and tying up a bullock, wait until he came
and killed the poor brute. For some time I could
find no tracks ; at last, however, in the dry sandy bed
of a small stream, a young Mussulman, a peon of
Cough's, stopped suddenly and pointed to a great
roundish mark in the sand. It did not require much
woodcraft to say what kind of animal made that track.
It was the first tiger's pug (as it is called) I had
ever seen, but I knew it immediately. For some time
I was puzzled by not being able to find the same track
again anywhere. What bothered me more were the
smaller tracks, exactly the same shape as the big
ones, marking the sand in all directions. I called
Gough, who was trying to get a shot at a partridge,
and after a little time the first report struck me —
namely, three tigers ; putting one and two together,
I came to the very reasonable conclusion that it was
an old tigress and two young ones. Not having a
shikaree, I did not think I would venture my first tiger

iv AFTER TIGER 63

in the manner first mentioned (namely, rockets), so
ordered a mechaun to be put up, and a young (bailie
sufyad) white bullock to be tied up, stating that I
intended sitting up and trying to kill their ' evil spirit '
for them (the natives of India imagine when a tiger
comes near their village doing harm to their flocks, and
even to themselves, that Allah has sent an evil spirit
to harm them in every way), but that they must do all
they could to help me. This I managed to make them
understand through Gough, who most kindly acted
interpreter for me. After pointing out the places I
wished the bullock and mechaun placed, I took my
Purdey, a two-grooved rifle, the heaviest gun I have (a
beautiful weapon, carrying a 2^-oz. ball and weighing
about 13 Ibs., which I consider light for the size of
the bore — eleven ; nevertheless, it is almost a perfect
gun, and one a man may trust his life to any day),
and followed up the track with great care ; it led
to a large clump of aloes, standing by itself, separated
by a sandy tract about 50 yards wide from a small
jungle. I pushed my way into this, half expecting
to be charged [Note — written some time afterwards —
1 A most foolish, rash, and unscientific affair altogether.
Had the tiger been there, nothing could have saved
me had she charged '], but the old lady was not in
it (very well for me, I suspect), and I could find her
pug no further. I then went to see the place where
she had killed a bullock ; it was in the middle of the
small jungle before mentioned. There were the remains
plain enough. We then returned to the bungalow.
On the way home I bagged a brace and a half of
quail with Cough's gun, and missed another. There
seem a great quantity about, also several partridge. I
had not time to waste, so had to leave them. After
breakfast I made all the preparations necessary for the

64 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

night's work, and then went out and had a long hot
walk in the very warmest time of the day after ante-
lope ; but though I saw many does I only saw two
bucks, and these I could not get near. At 3.30 I
returned, had a good bath, and then dinner, after
which I set off for the mechaun, two coolies carrying
my camping bed, and the young Mussulman who first
saw the pug carrying my Moore, and another man my
Purdey rifle. All these, except the Mussulman, I
intended sending to the right about as soon as I
arrived at my place. Gough came a short way, but his
foot was so sore he could not go all the way ; he had
rubbed it badly the day before at Arsekiere. I found a
quantity of natives sitting in their white sheets waiting
for me. They certainly respect the proverb : ' There's
safety in numbers.' There was no time to lose, as it was
already growing dark, which it does very fast in India,
the twilight being exceedingly short. We took the
bullock and tied him up, climbed into the mechaun—
the natives disappeared in the shortest time I have
ever yet seen them do anything, — and all was quiet.
What a night it was ! still, silent, and lonely as a
churchyard. For a long time I lay looking at the
sandy river-bed, fully expecting to see the dull, dusky,
dark form of a tiger come creeping up towards the
trembling calf; but I looked in vain. Even had a
tiger come I doubt if I could have fired ; it being
so dark I could hardly see 10 yards before me. Of
course I had a bit of white cotton gummed on my
muzzle sight ; but even with that my aim must have
been uncertain in the extreme. Better chance pre-
sented itself as the moon rose, casting a gray ghostly
hue on everything; this it did about 11.30 o'clock.
About this time one of the big eagle owls common
in India began its mournful hooting, adding to the

iv NO LUCK 65

sadly beautiful melancholy of the scene. Occasionally
I looked back at the Mussulman ; there he sat motion-
less as a statue, with a look of stern anxiety depicted
on his dark swarthy face. For about the space of
three hours we both remained in exactly the same
position in which we had settled ourselves. The
stillness began to get overpowering, and I was just
dozing off, despite all my efforts to the contrary, when
a movement on the part of the calf quickly restored
my weary senses. It rushed about for a minute, and
then stood at the end of its rope, trembling so that
I could hear it in the mechaun, and staring in one
direction. I suspected the cause, so cocked my rifle
quietly, and strained every sense and nerve to make
out the enemy's position. I listened with painful
attention, and at last made out distinctly a low guttural
purr. I knew it was the tiger, and expected to see
her every minute ; but was fated to be disappointed.
The strange appearance of my cacht had warned
the cunning brute, and the next time I heard her she
was some distance farther away. My chance was
over. Nevertheless, I tried to keep awake ; but though
I did my best I could not, and dozed for about one
hour between two and three, and dreamt I was going to
be married — a very different occupation to sitting up for
a tigress, I take it. At five exactly I wrapped up my
bed, and started for the bungalow. The moon was
still shining bright, and it being just the time of the
morning a tiger was likely to be on the lookout (I
was obliged to go, having promised Gough to be
ready to start very early this morning), I made the
Mussulman walk close behind me, and cocked both
barrels of my Purdey, and kept a sharp lookout. No
tiger molested us, and we arrived at the bungalow
about 5.30.

66 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

We started for Tarikere, a distance of 18 miles.
We arrived, having pretty good bullocks, about twelve
o'clock. Fresh news of tigers ; there was a man
lying in the village, most probably dying from a wound
inflicted by a tiger. Here was fresh work for me ;
seeing a pony was an absolute necessity, I asked if
there was one for sale. I was informed that a Mr.
Price, an assistant engineer, had one ; it turned out
satisfactory — a gray, well-bred-looking animal, with very
oddly-shaped legs. I gave him 150 rupees for it. In
the evening Gough and I went to look at the tiger's
haunts, which were in a cocoanut garden belonging to
the amendar or head of the village. The jungles,
though small, are very thick, and difficult to beat, and
there is a very close-growing sugar-cane crop, which if he
gets into, it will be a very ugly job to get him out. On
the way home a man came running to say the tiger
had just killed a bullock in some long grass. I was
immediately for going and shooting him on foot, but
Gough advised so strongly to the contrary, declaring he
would not go near the brute, that I gave it up. I
believe it turned out to be a humbug after all, but I am
not sure. I have ordered two elephants, which the
Rajah has most kindly lent me to try and despatch
the Benkypore tiger with (one of the most noted man-
eaters I suppose ever known ; he is supposed to have
killed over two hundred people, all natives), to be
stopped when they arrive, and I intend going to the
Barbarbuddan Hills to try for sambur and bison for a
week. The next day Gough and I rode to Sandy-
werry, which is half-way up the Barbarbuddan Hills ;
the ride is beautiful, and the getting out of the burning
plain into the cool atmosphere of the high grounds
most gratefully refreshing. Found Porter a nice
hospitable old boy, and his son a nice young

iv BEKREE 67

fellow, very fond of sport, and knowing something
more than a little about it. The next day we (Porter
jun., Gough, and self) rode to the wild -looking
bungalow on the top of the hills, and beat several
woods, but with no success ; a wild-cat gave me an
awkward shot, and I missed her ; I also got a shot at a
sambur, but had my 2 5 -yard sight up instead of 100 ;
and it being a long shot I fired under a good way.
Gough went down to write some letters, and Porter
and I tried on. I was stationed at the end of a small
wood, with my Purdey in my hands, when I observed a
small, curiously-shaped deer creeping through the long
grass just outside the wood. I dropped my Purdey,
not wishing to make a mess of the skin with the large
ball, and took up my heavy Moore and broke its back.
I found it was what commonly goes by the name of
Jungle Sheep, but its proper name is Bekree ; it is very
much like the Roe-deer of Scotland, but not such a
graceful animal ; they offer a difficult shot, as they run
very low, with their heads in a straight line with their
bodies. After I had shot this we went to the old
broken-down bungalow, where I had ordered all my
things to be brought up to, intending to devote some
days in this dreary spot to stalking sambur, and if
possible, bison. After breakfast, which was a regular
hunter's makeshift meal, Porter returned to his father's
bungalow, and I went off with an old shikaree to try
for sambur. We crept and dodged about the tops of
crags, and peered into the sunny little glades dispersed
here and there in the vast jungle at our feet. We at
last caught sight of a young stag ; but something had
alarmed him, and although I lay watching him with my
deer-stalking telescope for a long time, his mind would
not rest, so at last he disappeared into the forest.
Better luck attended us next stalk ; we were on the

F

68 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

top of a high rocky hill, and at the edge of a small
wood my shikaree pointed out a sambur feeding. I
directed my glass in that direction, and made out the
horns of a very fine stag and another hind. I, of
course, wanted to stalk them, but the old man said
there was a large plain between the nearest shelter and
the deer, and that we should find it impossible to get
a shot ; I was not of this opinion, as I saw it was to
save himself the walk that made him hold back ; so
would stand no nonsense, and when he saw me set off
in real earnest he followed. It was a difficult stalk,
though not near so bad as it looked ; we crept through
the long grass like cats ; but alas ! just as we were
getting within shot an old hind put up her head and
saw us ; not a moment was to be lost, or else the three
sambur would have dashed into the jungle. I raised
my Purdey, carefully covered the old doe's shoulders ;
firing for the heart, I pulled and over she went, and I
then took a snapshot at another, as they disappeared
in the bushes, but missed. I was satisfied with the
thought of one, and ran on with eagerness to examine
my first sambur, but lo ! she was gone — not a trace of
her could I see at first ; feeling sure I could not have
gone far astray in my shot, I looked for traces of her,
and found no difficulty in doing so. Little trees were
broken in a straight line ; this must have been the course
she took ; it was so, and with little trouble we tracked
by her blood, and found the huge beast lying quite
dead at the foot of a large forest tree ; I was very
much struck with her great size ; she was much bigger
than any Red-deer. The bullet had gone completely
through her, and must have touched either the lungs or
heart ; such is the strength of these splendid deer. I
returned well satisfied, though I could not help sighing
when I thought how near I was bagging the stag. I

iv SAMBUR 69

found Gough waiting with a regular dinner for a
hungry stalker, and didn't I just do it justice ! Tired I
was in earnest that night ; it was the first day's hard
work I had had for many weeks, and the overland
route does not improve the wind. Next day Porter
came up at seven o'clock, and we beat a few of the smaller
jungles. I requested to be placed at the end of a
wood running into the one they were going to beat,
knowing that when the old cunning deer hear the
smallest noise they make off instantaneously, quietly
going away, and nothing more is heard of them ; the
mistake of not putting a gun well forward is one most
commonly made. I had not been there five minutes,
the beating having begun, when with a rush three
sambur passed me. I only managed to get one.
After that we had no luck, the beaters being wretchedly
bad. I stalked in the evening, but had no luck at all.
I was lonely enough that first evening on the hills.

The next day I and the old shikaree were off at
daybreak, and I had a very nice stalk after a young
stag sambur which I bagged. It was curious enough ;
he was a long shot off and under me ; I fired farther
back than usual, as he was standing very foreshortened.
I thought I heard my bullet hit, but on seeing him trot
quietly and unconcernedly down the hill I fancied I
must have been mistaken, so fired at one of the hinds
and missed it ; at the report of the second barrel the
young stag fell like a shot dead. I immediately
thought my second barrel must have glided off a stone
and killed him ; but on going down I found my ball
had hit just where I had aimed, and tracks of blood all
the way down from where I had fired the first shot ; so
much again for a sambur's strength ; the ball had gone
right through the most vital parts, and out of his left
breast in a diagonal direction. After that we caught

70 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

sight of a sounder of wild pig feeding on a plain, and
after a neat stalk got within I 5 yards of one and 30 of
another, the others were all round us, but were smaller.
I fancied the nearest was the old boar of the sounder,
especially when I saw him trot in our direction ; indeed,
I began to think he had spied us, and was going to
charge, but he settled down, and went on rooting up
the ground ; it then struck me if I shot the 3O-yard
one which looked the bigger of the two, the other, if it
were the boar, would charge, and I should, if I shot well,
get the two. Accordingly I fired, when, instead of
charging, away went the whole herd as hard as they
could, the one I fired at among the rest. I thought
I could not have missed altogether, so looked about and
found blood, tracked it up, and when the traces stopped,
described circles ; the second I took I found a fine old
sow dead as mutton lying among the rocks ; the ball
had gone a little too high. This was good sport
before breakfast. I then went home, had something to
eat, and set off by myself to try my luck. I never had
W0rse — never till that night did I know what it was to
be regularly miserable ; not one single head of game was
to be seen, and I did walk a great way. When looking at
my watch I found I had got one hour to go back what
had taken me four, and it was uphill, and such uphill
work ; a terrific toothache came on ; it nearly drove me
mad — I was completely done up, and the pain made
me worse. I was knocked about in the most painful
way ; my feet ached and ached again ; I thought I
should never get back ; it came on pitch dark, and I
had two jungles to go through infested with tigers — that
is to say, only this morning I had seen the marks on a
tree where one had sharpened his claws. In the day-
time these jungles are so thick one can scarcely find
the way ; once lost in them at night and one's chances

iv A HARD WALK 71

are very small. I don't recollect when I was so tired,
and I wanted all my wits and nerves, and both of them
were distracted by the awful pain. So intense, how-
ever, was the stress on my senses in feeling my way
through these pitchy woods, expecting every minute to
hear a low growl at my back (nothing could have been
more likely, as the jungle has never been beaten, and
the tigers are as bold as possible), that my toothache
ceased ; had it not, I almost think these words would
never have been written ; how I got through it as it was,
it is most difficult to say. I mentioned this little
adventure to Colonel Porter and his son, and they both
agreed I had had an uncommon narrow escape. No
one who has not been in an Indian jungle can form the
smallest idea of the tangled mass of rank vegetation
which composes it ; to be lost in one at night would be
anything but an enviable position. Just as I emerged
from the last jungle, the first thing I saw was the huge
shadow of a sambur deer upon higher ground than
where I stood. I could hardly see my rifle ; neverthe-
less I fired, but missed, and had the satisfaction of
hearing him crashing away through the forest. My
misfortunes were not over ; on my way across the rocky
hills, between the jungles and the bungalow, I knocked
my knee a terrific bang against a rock, actually
bruising a hole in my strong shooting knickerbockers ;
men with torches were now in sight, and most willingly
did I give my heavy Purdey rifle up to one of them
and limped home."

From Tarikere, Brooke made expeditions to every
place where the tiger had last been heard of, accounts
still coming in of men killed or injured.

I have had a long talk with the duffodar (head
shikaree) about my great object, the Benkypore

72 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

man-eater. I have promised him a rifle if I get him
while he is with me. His answer was : " Sahib, I
did not come to preserve my life, but to lose it in
your service ; such were the commands of his
Highness, the Rajah, and to obey him was I born."
I hope he will prove as good as his word ; I expect
he will be well tried !

Brooke here adds a note — "A greater set of impostors
never chewed rice or betel nut." For many days and
nights Brooke watched for the man-eater at likely
places, and several times tracked him in the jungle
but without success. At last, however, he was rewarded
by coming face to face with the savage brute, and would
no doubt have finished his bloodthirsty career but for
the untoward accident mentioned in the following letter
to his sister, written from the Neilgherry Hills some
time after : —

" OOTACAMUND, NEILGHERRY HlLLS,

ist February 1863.

First of all where am I ? In no other place than
the charming * Blue Mountains ' (or Neilgherry Hills),
teeming with English people ; so much so that to-
morrow I start off again to the wild forest glades, with
two tents which constitute a capital substitute for old
C. B.1 (any way for the present), to stalk the grand stag
sambur from ' early morn to dewy eve.' How you
would open those dear little eyes of yours could you
but picture to yourself some of the wild exciting scenes
your respectable old brother Vic has been playing first
fiddle to lately. I must try and give you an idea.
I'll begin with my escape from a tiger ; I have not
mentioned it before, for fear of making all you dear,
anxious ( old folks at home ' uneasy, but now I write
1 Colebrooke.

iv THE MAN-EATING TIGER 73

the story, also present a promise that you need not
picture the like ever happening again, as I will never
let a beast like a tiger come too near my most valuable
carcase. To make you understand what kind of a creature
a wild, royal tiger is, I will just mention two things.
First, a full-grown male tiger could take Gamecock^
in his mouth and jump over the deer park gate with him.
You can hardly believe it, but I tell you it's true, and
that's enough. The man-eater that I was after took
an Indian buffalo, which is heavier than a very large
English bull, and jumped a wall 8 feet high with
him in his mouth ; there's the proof. Secondly, so
fearful is their strength and activity combined, that I
myself have been in the same bush while a tiger killed
three full-grown Indian bullocks in three strokes of his
awful paws ; so thick was the bush that, though I was
not 20 yards from him, I could not see him. One
more little instance : A tiger, after he kills a bullock, will
sometimes take him and chuck him 10 to 15 yards
away with a single toss of his huge head, like old
Dandy would a rat. Well, now for my simple tale !
I had been after a remarkable large powerful tiger for
some days, — sometimes tracking him for hours, some-
times watching from hills, sometimes out for nights
trying to see him, but for some time in vain. Good-luck
had hid his cheerful face. What made me so anxious
was that he had eaten a poor little Hindoo herd-boy
and nearly killed another native. At last my efforts
and patience were, I fancied, going to be rewarded. I
tracked him into what is called a nullah — that is a kind
of very narrow valley, about as wide across as the river
and very thickly wooded. I knew by certain signs the
monster was in, so now to get him out. I sent six
men with matchlocks to defend the beaters should the

1 A horse his sister rode.

74 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

tiger attack them, and told them to divide themselves
amongst them, and then beat the small valley or
nullah towards me. I placed myself at the end of it
and just between the tiger's two runs (or pathways)
leading from it. All men in India, except one or two
donkeys like myself, get up a tree or something of that
sort. I had never seen a tiger in his native home, and
so despised the tree, so stood my ground ; I must tell
you (from reasons too long and intricate to explain)
that it was impossible for the brute to get away with-
out almost running over me ; as a tiger seldom leaves
you, preferring to put you in his pocket en passant, the
moment was an exciting one. I felt pretty cool. At
the first shout of the beaters out of bush at the farther
end of the nullah walked the glorious tiger. My first
tiger. He looked enormous even at that distance,
about as far as from the dining-room window to the
rhododendrons ; I could see the frightful swelling
muscles of his arms rounded, as Tennyson says, like a
brook running over stones (the gentle poet alludes not
to the tawny tiger). I felt cooler still. He walked
straight into the thick bushes below me, and I had the
satisfaction to know in thirty seconds I should be face
to face with the furious brute and within 10 yards.
About the expiration of the thirty long, long seconds
the nearest bush slid softly to one side, and right in
front of me, about the length of the dining-room, out
swaggered the magnificent creature, and came straight
towards me with long, powerful, spongy strides. I had
reached my climax and felt cool, as if I were drinking
tea, far cooler than I am as I write this. It certainly
was a trying moment, and one that a great stake lay
on a single move. Nearer and nearer glided the tiger.
I slowly and carefully raised my favourite rifle, and the
sights played on his awful head between those two

iv THE MAN-EATING TIGER 75

frightful glaring yellow eyes. This was the most trying
of all things named ; he was coming straight towards
me, and a tiger always springs forward when fired at
or hit, and woe betide the man, beast, or tree that
comes in his way when his monkey is up. It was a
very awkward position, and so called forth every power.
I glanced off the rifle and saw the tiger-path he was
on turned off about 5 yards (the length of your
bedroom) before it came to me. I was behind a low
bush about the height of your head, but so like a tree
is my coat, and so occupied was the tiger with the
thoughts of * those he left behind him,' that he never
saw me, but the chances were in two steps more he
would. All this that takes so long to describe only
filled up the space of four or five seconds, but in such
seconds one lives a lifetime. Already he was turning
slightly to one side, leaving poor me out of his straight,
direct course anyway, and already I was beginning to
slightly pull the fated trigger. I thought, ' In one or two
more strides you're mine ' ; and as I looked at the awful
head, the long, lithe, powerful body, the frightful fore-
legs, as thick and hard as billiard tables' ; and above all,
as I listened to that low, savage threatening growl, like
a heavy waggon going fast over a wooden bridge, I felt
a proud bit of feeling rise in me at the thought of
fighting the * Great Cat ' out on his own ground. I
was just pulling the trigger when a whiz past my ear,
a sharp crack, a terrific grand roar, a sensation of
some great danger flying past my devoted head in the
shape of a very noisy thing in a striped waistcoat, two
or three tremendous crashes in the bamboo jungle, and
all was as it were a dream. Now for the explanation
(a case of Lord Byron, * explain your explanation ').
A rascal, a very naughty man, a regular nasty creature
of a man ! O words ! how inadequate you are to

76 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

express my rising feelings. Well, this biped, this black,
two-legged animal whom I had placed as sentry away
off on a hill behind me, to mark the tiger should I only
wound him, got so excited that he crept down, and
first of all making his own position good by climbing a
rock, fired past my head (and mighty close too) at the
tiger, though the beast knew he must most likely bring
the tiger on me. He missed him, but, already angry,
the enraged brute boiled over at this fresh insult, and
sprang with an awful roar close past me like an over-
grown arrow. Had the culprit fired one iota sooner —
that is, before the tiger's head was slightly turned from
me — I pity my unlucky star. Often in looking back to
this exciting adventure I feel deeply thankful to One
who takes care of us when we don't take care of our-
selves, for my certainly most narrow go (' escape,' you
ought to call it, * go ' is only for schoolboys like me).
I daresay you are tired of tigers, so I must conclude
my lecture on the noble animal, simply adding that
had I hit him matters might have been worse, as tigers
are hardly ever killed with one ball, and the smoke of
my gun would have brought him on me ; considering
this affair in all its lights, and adding to it since,
experiences too long to relate here, you need never
fear for me again. I understand the noble brutes now
and respect them accordingly, so consequently shall in
future keep a respectable distance."

I do not gather from his Journal or letters that he
ever again succeeded in coming .across the man-eater,
though he spent many weeks and spared himself no
trouble or fatigue. With other game similar ill-luck
pursued him, notably in the case of a very fine panther,
for which he had watched night after night over bait.
The panther at last came, but passed under the tree in

iv WAITING FOR A TIGER 77

such a manner that Brooke could not bring his rifle to
bear upon him. On another occasion a bullock had
been killed by a tiger, and over it

I climbed into a very thick tree, where a few sticks
had been arranged for me to sit on. Settling
myself in a position that I could shoot from, and
remain a long time in, I made the village shikaree
climb up, and another man came too. After sitting
about an hour, some children, just outside the jungle,
began to play and make a noise. Knowing that it
was worse than useless expecting a tiger to come
while this noise was going on, I sent the second
shikaree to stop them. He did so, but did not
return. Now the real watching began ; all was as
still and quiet as one could wish ; no sound but the
leaves dropping, and the notes of different birds (as
yet, I am sorry to say, unknown to me) was to be
heard. Any moment he might come. It is most
exciting work, that waiting for a tiger. The animal
himself comes so noiselessly that you do not know
which turn of the head, as you keep gazing round,
may be surprised by his glorious form. It was two
o'clock, the hottest time of the day, when we first
went. Five o'clock is the most likely hour ; five
came, passed, and still no tiger. I was beginning to
give him up, when the shikaree, who was sitting
lower down, touched me. Bagh (tiger), whispered
I ; he nodded. I looked in all directions, but could
not make him out, and was beginning to fancy he
had not seen the tiger, but that, thinking I had given
up hope, he meant to put me on the watch. About
five minutes elapsed ; it was getting very dark, very
quickly, when straight before me, through the leaves
of the thick tree I was sitting in, I saw the tail of a
tiger. It was moving ; in a second more the whole

78 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

of his body came into view. He was a very large,
gaunt, powerful -looking brute, very light- coloured,
with a remarkably large head. He walked straight
away from me, and seemed to be looking for some-
thing. Could it be possible he had missed the
bullock ? It might be, and if so, he was going off
back to the jungle. It was one of those crises which
require sharp, quick decision. It was getting dark
fast. In ten minutes more I should not be able to
shoot ; it must be risked. I took up Purdey, aimed
just as quietly at him as if he was a rabbit (I never
felt less excited about a shot), probably caused by
the feeling of not being able to kill him, from the
position he was walking in. Unless I had broken
his spine it was perfectly impossible to kill him.
Only his hindquarters were to be seen. I pulled
gently, over went the huge brute, and commenced
roaring and tearing up the ground. In a second,
however, he was up again, and dashed into the
bushes, still roaring savagely.

This tiger was never got, though next day they
tracked him on foot by his blood for a long distance,
a very dangerous proceeding, which most men in India
consider simple madness. Brooke, however, justifies
himself in the following words : —

This is the worst and by far the most dangerous
part of tiger-shooting. Many, very many, men leave
a tiger alone after he is wounded, so desperate do
they deem, and rightly too, the work of following
them up. This, however, I do not consider fair. By
wounding him you render him desperate, and certain
death to any one going near him unarmed. Besides
that you leave the poor brute in pain, and no one
with any love and admiration for what is grand, could
think complacently of these really noble animals

iv SOME REFLECTIONS 79

being left to die in suffering, and all because the
sportsman was too cautious to go and put him out
of his misery.

On his return to camp, through an interpreter, he
heard the shikaree's story.

What was my horror to find that, when he first
touched me, sitting under a bush about 5 yards
from the dead bullock were two tigers. There they
sat licking their lips. Every moment he expected
to hear me fire (so thick was the tree he could not
see me or see the tigers beginning to eat). It seems
about this time poor I, who was quite unconscious
of their vicinity, made the very slightest movement.
One of them immediately cocked his head and made
a sign to the other, who got up as if to silently
reconnoitre the premises. It was at this one I fired.
Oh ! me miserum, as poor old ^Eneas used to say in
his trouble. Most likely had I not fired I should
have got a double shot. A lesson is taught, experi-
ence gained, but alas, how dearly ! Never again
shall this pen have to record V. A. B.'s imprudence,
want of judgment, etc., in firing at a tiger unless
at a vital spot.

CHAPTER V

Second Portion of Indian Trip — Extracts from Journals and Letters
to his Mother and to his Cousin, Charles Okeover, from the
Neilgherry Hills — Successful Sport with Tigers, Bears, Sam-
bur, and Ibex — The Black Panther and Monster Tusker.

AGE 21.

TOWARDS the end of January he left this part of the
country, and thus sums up his experiences : —

This book is drawing to a close. The latter part of
it is, I am afraid, one series of failures and disap-
pointments. Such cannot be helped. To such
trials the true sportsman must make up his mind.
They are only forerunners and examples of the
more serious ups and downs of life. At the time
they are hard to bear with a proper amount of
cheerfulness ; and when success does come to crown
the sportsman's hard-fought efforts, he will value it
none the less for all the many times it has slipped
away when just within his eager grasp.
In this very wholesome frame of mind Brooke left
the Shimoga district, and went back to Mysore, and
from there started for the Neilgherry Hills, where the
bad luck he had previously had entirely disappeared,
and in the eight following months he secured a bag of
unequalled quality and variety of game. The Neil-
gherry Hills lie about 70 miles south of Mysore,
and at that time teemed with game of all sorts. The
highest hills are about 8000 feet, covered with timber

CHAP, v OOTACAMUND 81

and masses of jungle, and broad expanses of more open
country. The invigorating air and majestic character
of the scenery make it the beau ideal of a sportsman's
hunting-ground, very different from the steaming, burn-
ing plains Brooke had just left. Here he had the good
fortune to come across several well-known sportsmen,
who were able to give him much valued advice, and the
experience he had himself acquired in the last two
months enabled him to enter upon his second expedition
with renewed hopes and prospects of success.

He made Ootacamund his headquarters, and from
there penetrated to the wildest parts of the Neilgherry
Hills. Before starting afresh he thus writes to his
mother : —

"OOTACAMUND, I st February 1863.

To-morrow at daybreak I start with tents on a ten
days' (or perhaps more) expedition to a most wild,
uninhabited part of these hills. A Captain Brine is
coming with me ; he is the first man I have met in
India that I could live with, and he makes up for all
the others. He is a most keen, experienced sports-
man ; in looks he reminds me very strongly of Uncle
Ned ; he is just like him, only more worn-looking, and
more silver in his jet-black hair, a silky black beard,
with snowy traces here and there, constitute the only
difference in the general contour of face. He is about
the bravest of Indian braves, with twenty-two summers
in this scorching clime ; all in all, you might travel
very far and not find a more pleasant companion or a
finer-looking man. Many and many is the to me most
thrilling story he can tell of successes and escapes. I
could not help thinking it was' a subject for Whyte
Melville, to see Brine and me searching in the grave-
yard here for the grave of poor young Hancock, who
was killed by a tiger at the foot of these mountains

82 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

and buried here. It was a wild, drizzling day, and the
clouds were flying across the churchyard, playing round
the sad -looking, tall, white tombstones, and almost
adding to the difficulty of our mournful task. We
found it at last with the simple inscription-
Here lies

Captain the Honb'le . . . Hancock,

late of the Fusiliers.

He was killed by a

Tiger
near this place on the 22nd of Dec. 1858.

Aged 24 years.

This monument is erected by his sorrowing father.
Lord Castlemaine.

Brine and I stood for some minutes gazing at it,
and I daresay what we both had so often dared and
so narrowly escaped never struck us before with such
clammy horror. Poor fellow ! only six months before
he had been asking Brine, as they both came out
together — Brine being then a well-known sportsman in
India, and a great authority, — how to shoot tigers
Brine's answer was: 'Always climb a tree at least 20
feet (a tiger will knock a man out of a tree 4 feet
higher than the dining-room ceiling with one bound),
and when you wound a tiger or knock him over don't
go near him for some time, and then when you do, look
out for squalls.' Not one month afterwards, as the
poor fellow was on his way here, he heard of a tiger ;
it was the first he ever heard of even. Away he went,
got up a tree, had the jungle beaten, and he got a shot
quite close, and knocked the tiger over motionless ;
down he got, quite excited, to examine it, and was
stooping to pick up his paw, when, with one stroke —
his dying struggle — the huge brute almost cut him in

SAD RECORDS 83

two ; in three or four hours he was dead. The tiger
died as he struck him. In the same yard there was
another case of a death from a tiger — a poor fellow
called Willoughby — and, if I mistake not, a Captain
Hughes killed by an elephant. About the last, I am
not sure. At Tarikere, where I met the adventure
related in my letter to Constance, there were the graves
of three English officers, encircled by a low wall and
shaded by three gnarled old trees. Two were killed
by tigers, and one had committed suicide — driven to it,
I suppose, by the loneliness of the place. So feverish
and unhealthy, no one would live there. Nothing is so
saddening as to see the monument of a once-loved son or
brother in happy little England, rearing its pallid head
in the midst of wild, unheard-of jungles, with no one to
look on it with anything but the idle eye of curiosity.

If there was a tinge of * blue devils ' about my
letter when after that man-eating tiger, you now see
the cause. I did not care for you to see it before, but
if hid any longer, it would stand like an island alone in
a vast sea, marking the first striking affair in my life
that you don't know of. When you feel that you will
know everything ; I hope it lessens the anxiety I fear
you must feel now and then. Don't be afraid of tigers
in future. I know now I'm not afraid of them, and
others know it, which, to be honest, is a satisfaction.
But it now is, in my eyes, a matter of foolish risk to
stand before a tiger, and I never will do it again if I
can help it. You have my promise, so I know you
will feel quite light about the heart again. Tiger-
shooting from elephants or from trees is quite safe,
especially when Hancock's sad warning of going near
an apparently dead one is held to view. In my present
expedition I expect deer -stalking, which is, after all,
my favourite sport (bar the glorious bison). It is so

G

84 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

delightful. Up before day, and sitting on a crag which
overlooks a wide extent of wood and glade, waiting for
the clouds to melt away and the sun to rise, when, like
a panorama before me, suddenly appears the whole
extent of blue mountains, and many a wild nook and
corner, with either the stately bison or an old stag feed-
ing unconsciously below us ; the little gay-coloured birds
making the beautiful green woods quite joyous with
their morning notes, the crows of the wild-cock (com-
mon fowl), and perhaps far away the majestic roar
of the * dread destroyer,' as he goes to his mountain
home. Midst such wild scenes as this I have spent
many a happy hour, and hope to do so again. I am
working very hard at every Indian subject. The his-
tory (most complicated, and allowed by all to be most
puzzling), natural history, religious manners and customs
of the Hindoos and Mussulmen (the latter are Arabs,
who overran the country years ago, and governed it till
we took it from them), and last, but by no means the
least important, the present Government of India. I
am deeply interested in it, and shall always feel so —
in fact, feel almost an old Indian (not in mind, I most
fervently hope). The curious characters I have met
this last three months would make a book. I am
thoroughly up in all coffee -planter's matters, having
stopped off and on a month with one (Porter of the
Barbaboodens). It is a most money-making business,
and I would like to see Harry well in one. It beats
the army to fits ; you learn more and see more of real
life, and in ten years you return worth three or four
thousand a year. I have met three or four young
fellows who are off home, married and settled in Eng-
land at the age of thirty, with such like good fortune.
That's better than retiring with your pension, minus
one leg, or something as melancholy. Besides, the

v WHAT COFFEE-PLANTING CAN DO 85

life, madam ! the life ! What's a brandy-and-water-and-
cigar life when compared to roaming the wild forests
far and wide ? It takes capital to set one going, but in
five years you are repaid, and from that date money
tumbles into the bank in a style unknown to any but
the race of coffee -planters. Depend on it, it's the
way to finish your days, if you have any left to finish, 1 ff
happily, in a snug old home, with a cheery little wife,
in some corner of foggy ould Ireland."

To HIS MOTHER.

" OOTACAMUND.

Back again from my solitary expedition versus the
ibex. I have had desperate weather and desperate
luck, so much so that the combined forces for the
first time proved too much for the rough hunter, and
drove him into the settlement for rest and shelter.
One evening, on returning to my little tent, dead
tired with the tremendously trying ground I had
been hunting over from before dawn, wet through
from head to foot by the most terrific storm (one
of the harbingers of the monsoon) that regularly
darkened the air, and turned every ibex path into a
running brook, and every brook into a rushing cataract,
through every one of which we had to wade, holding
the rifles over our heads, disheartened by bad luck —
in fact, undergoing one of the worst of the many trials
a sportsman's life entails — I was cheered up by the
appearance of a well-known and right truly welcome
handwriting lying on my old camp table. I am
so glad to find that my yarns don't weary you
all. I would indeed be sorry if I thought none of
you took any interest in the wild scenes I am now
revelling in. Oh ! the joy, the real true pleasure, to
be far away from the haunts of men, and wander far

86 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

and free midst the grandest, noblest works of an
Almighty Being ; to roam alone with a dear old friend
in the shape of a trusty rifle, letting one's thoughts
roam also amongst lands of their own ; no sound heard
but the murmuring of the mountain brooks, the scream
of the black eagle, or the wild whistle of the ibex, as
amidst the curling mist on some dark jutting crag he
keeps his watchful vigil. A man who can live in such
scenes as these, and not feel his whole nature ennobled
for the time, must be indeed made of some adamantine
substance.

I intend in this to give you the account of a day's
ibex-stalking that occurred during my last expedition.
It will, I fancy, interest you, and give you some notion
of the difficulties and trials consequent to the grandest
sport in Asia. It will also show that to bag an ibex
is not the easy thing a person not understanding these
things might be led to imagine. The walking is most
fearfully trying to the very strongest and determined
sportsmen. This, of course, renders a man, unless in
superb condition, a little shaky and unsteady, especially
when you also consider that an ibex is the most wary
and watchful animal in the world ; his gifts of scent,
sight, and hearing, even to an old deer -stalker like
myself, are obstacles almost insurmountable. Nothing
but indefatigable patience, and firm, unswerving per-
severance, will ever enable a man to lay his hands on
the wild, battered head of an old gray ibex. When
disturbed, ibex will travel off to other grounds, some-
times going for seven days and seven nights without
hardly stopping — pretty good in even these locomotive
days. I mention these facts just to show what a
weight depends upon one when often, after perhaps a
most tedious stalk, you find yourself breathless, cut,
reeking hot, and excited, within shot of a wild old

v IBEX 87

customer ; and in this place I may as well tell you,
that I consider all my success with ibex and the noble
sambur to be owed to old Largie Deer Park. I may
safely say the schooling I had undergone from a small
boy on that dear old hill has made me what I am (I
say it with a bit of pride) — a patient, persevering
stalker. Once disturb an ibex, and in this wide world
there is nothing that I know of so difficult to accom-
plish as to get within shot of them. I'm off to-morrow
for some weeks after ibex and bison, which latter noble
animal I have seen very little of. And now for the
ibex-stalk.

A day that will ever remain a strongly-marked one
in my sporting life was just softly dawning, as I
stepped out of my street - door into the clear fresh
morning air. Not a sound was to be heard ; the dead
silence of an Indian night had not as yet been broken,
even by that early riser, the black robin. Calling my
faithful follower, Francis by name (a native shikaree or
hunter who carries my second rifle and acts as guide ;
he is a Christian, and as dear a creature as ever
walked), we started, followed by a tall athletic
Lascar — a fine handsome fellow, with an eye like a
panther's. His duty is to carry a spare gun if one
extra is wanted in case of tigers, panthers, or elephants,
and also to skin the dead game and carry the spoils
home to the tent. The hill we intended hunting over
that day lay about 4 miles behind the tents, and
was well known to Francis and myself as about the
best ibex crag in the Neilgherry Hills. With 'hope,'
which somehow, despite all one's previous experience,
will 'spring triumphant in the human breast,' we
strode over the rough craggy ground, in the uncertain
light of the gray morning, at a pace that soon brought
us within examining distance of the great mountain,

88 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

which rose in a series of broken precipices to the
height of 8000 feet The top of this hill constituted
the most lovely park-like tableland. The beautiful
red blossom of the rhododendrons, flushing in the
warm genial light of the rising sun, made the place look
more like some beautiful pleasure grounds in England
than the abode of the wild ibex and the eagle. As
we came to the last undulating wave among the low
hills at the foot of the precipices we halted, and lying
coiled up in the long green grass, took out our glasses,
and set to work to examine every possible nook into
which an ibex might have stuck himself. At this
early time a mere casual glance from an experienced
eye will detect an ibex from among the rocks ; it being
their feeding-time, there is certain to be one or two on
the grassy slopes, which will direct your eye to their
locality. Having discovered the position of the herd
in general, the next step is to make out the ' sentinel ' ;
this post is generally assigned to an old female who
has seen many a stalker defeated by her unwearying
watchfulness. To get within shot is often impossible,
owing to the old witch having taken up a position that
commands every possible approach. Nothing but long
experience enables a man to determine whether the
stalk is practicable or not ; should he decide in favour
of the latter, he must lie and watch the herd until the
old doe goes off her post, and another, perhaps less
au fait, takes her place ; this change is effected by the
old lady getting up and poking the next sentinel in
the ribs with her nose. The new guard never mutinies
but goes to its post at once. Well, we had not even
got the glasses up when Francis touched me gently,
and we both instantly sank lower into the ground, like
a snail into her shell. About \\ miles off we saw a
handsome brown buck ibex (I think I told you an

AFTER IBEX 89

ibex is first a kid, then a young buck, then a brown
buck, then a black buck, and lastly, a grand old saddle-
buck, having the gray mark on his back ; it takes
many years before they get this mark ; and I need not
say that it is seldom indeed the sportsman's eye is
rewarded by a sight of one of these magnificent old
patriarchs) walking along the tableland above the
precipices. Presently another brown buck followed,
and then a young buck, then two does and a kid, and
lastly, the black-gray body of a noble old patriarch
hove in sight, following with slow dignified steps his
grand and great-grand children. Whilst watching this
noble old ibex, Francis became suddenly greatly
excited, and I saw what I at first took for an immense
bear on intimate terms with the old gray ibex. Up
with the glass. Ye gods ! what a monster ! I
despair when I think how unable I am to make you
conceive what a splendid, noble, old patriarch was that
ibex. Francis, who I suppose knows more about the
Neilgherry ibex than any man, said he never laid his
eyes on anything like him. I should fancy he
numbered some fifty summers. Where he was not
gray as hoar-frost he was as black as bog oak ; his
glossy sides shone in magnificent contrast to his milk-
white stomach. His gray saddle inspired me with the
same respect an old man's beard does, and his old
battered head and massive yet graceful horns, bending
with a gentle sweep over his shaggy neck, made my
heart bound about like mad. I swore in my heart that
I would follow that old buck if I slept a week of
Sundays after him on the bare mountain-side. You
will hardly understand the almost sickly excitement
which we got into with such a prize before us, and all
the difficulties that spring up one by one. The
ibex were, as we instantly saw, returning after their

90 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

feed to some well-known and perhaps inaccessible rock,
their sleeping-place, where they intended spending the
day. The buck that we first saw was the sentinel, and
had his aged father not been there, I would have
deemed him well worthy of all my skill. The herd
meandered listlessly over the grassy sward in among
the rhododendron trees, and it was almost unnatural
to see these wild creatures in such a lovely spot.
Letting them get a rise between us and them, we
started off up to the crags as fast as it was possible to
climb. The fearful fatigue of such pulls can only be
conceived by such men as have experienced it. Suffice
it to say, at the top the wind of all three of us,
including myself, though I am in the hardest condition
(my weight is scarcely over 1 2 stone ; i 3 stone 6 Ibs. it
used to be), came in sharp gasps, my legs trembled with
the long tension in the muscles, and the perspiration
flowed in little Niagaras from our faces. Down we sat
and killed two birds with one stone, taking off my boots
and getting fresh wind. Having taken off everything
that would impede any snake-like motion through the
grass, and leaving the Lascar, much to his disgust,
behind us, gently then, as if our very lives depended
on each and every step, we crept like two tigers after
our noble game. Dodging from one tree to another,
we at last came to the rise, at the other side of which
we felt certain we should see the ibex. Haste was
necessary ; as once the ibex lay down, and the sentinel
had chosen his place, we would have had to wait all
day in patience. Stepping into his footsteps, I
followed Francis, who was trembling with unusual
excitement, an expression of the most deep anxiety
settling on his dark face ; no gambler ever felt the
weight of the next throw more sharply. Step by step
we gently appeared over the ridge, when my eye just

AFTER IBEX 91

detected the mane of an ibex in among the grass.
Down I pushed Francis, and we crept under a big
bush, and carefully raising my head, imagine the thrill
that shot through me ; there, within shot, about 90
yards off, was the monster ibex, feeding, unconscious
of any danger. Immediately behind stood the sentinel
buck, a princely fellow, with a most graceful head.
The rest of the herd were not visible. Now came the
trying moment ; the old hermit was feeding straight
from me, offering a most uncertain shot, and still I
was afraid to wait in such close proximity to the
guard. I determined, however, to risk the latter ; to
lie like a weasel, with one eye through the tangled
bush. Farther and farther away fed the ibex, and at
last I saw it was necessary to risk getting to the next
bush ; with great difficulty it was accomplished ; hardly
were we concealed by it when, guess my horror at
seeing the other old saddle - back, within 25 yards,
looking straight. At any other time I would have
indeed been lucky, but as it was, I was bent on
nobler game, and wished Methuselah the Second any-
where but there. Now then, ' Jack,' your aid, old gun !
The ibex's shrill whistle cut through our heads, and
the next instant every ibex rushed to the sentinel.
Alas ! old buck, too late, the rugged ball from the
trusty old rifle was too much for you. Down he went,
sprawling over the rock, and away went the herd like
the wind, my second bullet flying among them, but
doing no harm. What cared I ? Oh ! what a thrill of
madness ran through me ; why not get the other ?
Seizing my second rifle from Francis's hand, I dashed
off in my stockings after the herd, passing the prostrate
ibex, merely stopping for a second to look at him, and
as his wild jealous eye met mine, I felt how I had won
a stake worth running for. After the others I cut, and

92 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

got a long shot, but did no good. Francis then came
up, mad with excitement and joy, and told me he had
left the Lascar who had run up with the ibex. As
we got near the place, what was my horror to see the
old fellow on his legs and going at a sad slow walk
away. Knowing how dangerous it is to run after any
wounded animal — you only drive them on when they
would otherwise lie down — I loaded and then followed
him gently, but oh ! how can I write it ? I saw every
stride the powerful beast was gaining strength. I ran,
oh ! how I ran, and at last, exhausted, fired my barrel,
but who shoots straight after such a run? I missed,
dropped the old gun, and tried to keep the wounded
beast in sight, but rise after rise he gained, and at last
disappeared in among the precipices. I knew my fate
then, and will your kind hearts blame the old hunter
when he owns that two great salt drops, perhaps per-
spiration, rolled slowly down his weatherbeaten cheek ?
It was a trial, the hardest I ever had in my shooting
experience ; I never got him, and what I went through
looking for him, I won't trouble you with, but will
conclude with fondest love to all.

I am off to-day after ibex for two weeks."

To HIS MOTHER.

" OOTACAMUND,

NEILGHERRY HILLS,
"2nd March 1863.

One more short glimpse at civilisation again. I only
returned the day before yesterday from the most happy
month I ever spent ; for four weeks Brine and I never
saw anything but the wild mountains and forests and
our cosy little tent ; we have had glorious sport, and I
most thoroughly enjoyed myself. First of all, Brine has

AFTER SAMBUR 93

risen instead of fallen in my estimation ; he is a brave,
good, determined shikaree, and a delightful companion.
You would have laughed had you seen us leave here —
Brine and I leading on two rat -like animals, and all the
baggage carried by coolies (the lowest caste of Hindoo).
In this style we proceeded some way till we found
a place that struck our eyes as a likely spot for
an old stag or two, and there we camped, sending the
coolies, who are as noisy as the crows on a summer
evening, back again. It was a wild and beautiful spot we
pitched upon — the forest running all round us. I intend,
if I can, to give you a short, but I hope satisfactory,
account of all my successes (B. killed nothing) ; I leave
out the blanks and disappointments, which have at
times been not a few. To make you understand my
adventures, it is absolutely necessary you should know
something of the animals they take place with. From
what I have already told you, I am sure the sambur
stands high in your idea of the grand and beautiful
mixed. But you have never heard a description of an
old stag ; he is grander than the veriest old royal that
ever toed the heather ; he is larger, more powerful, more
symmetrical ; and with all this he is such a hermit, he is
scarce ever seen by man ; his haunts lie amongst the
most glorious crags, forests, and mountains ; and he is
never seen save at the setting or rising of the sun ; his
mane is like a lion's. This is a moderate head, who
knows, though, that I may have to draw a * monster
stag ' ? The whole sport, to sum up this dry stuff, is like
Red-deer stalking in the olden times, only on a far
grander scale ; the work they give you is no baby's play
I can assure you. Well, we settled to work, and for
some days nothing happened — no deer were to be seen.
One day I was in the tent writing, B. sitting opposite,
when a yelping in the wood outside the tent was heard,

94 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

and a pack of wild-dogs and two hinds (female samburs)
passed venire a terre close past the door. It was a most
curious sight and one seldom seen. Accustomed as we
are to seize a rifle at a second's notice, I bounced up,
seized mine, and from the tent bang went one barrel at
a wild-dog ; missed him ; bang went the other at the
largest hind ; she flinched and staggered, but still held
on ; bang went Brine, and over she rolled, dead, with
a ball through the neck. It was exciting ; only I wish
I had bagged a wild-dog ; they are great curiosities now
and seldom seen. That evening we went up as usual,
climbed on to a crag, got well hid and watched all
round the edges of the small sholahs (woods), in hopes
of a pair of antlers making their appearance ; but no, we
sat till dark ; and though we commanded a vast extent
of wood and mountain, not even the youngest aspirant
to a pair of sticks made its appearance. Next morning
off two hours before light (all the time we were out
there, we were only four mornings we were not away at
4 A.M. or 4.30), and stumbled away to a rocky pass for
all kinds of animals ; we expected to see Mr. Bruin, but
saw nothing at all except a truly grand sunrise. We
now saw we had made a mistake in our camping-place,
so determined to have a drive (beat, you would say),
and then the day after leave for a place Brine had seen
during an expedition and always put it down as a sort
of heaven among shooting grounds. The drive took
place the next day, and I feel bound to give you an idea
of the difficulty in getting men — you may pay what you
like but they won't come. Why? because they are
generally so badly treated. Not so with us ; I have seen
enough of different natives to know that kindness finds
its way to the hearts of all, especially the ladies ; get the
fair sex on your side, no matter where, Lapland or India,
and you may move the world. This Brine and I knew,

AFTER SAMBUR 95

so all our meat of the old hind we had killed went to
them ; the consequence was, when we went down to the
valley (the Orange Valley, so called from the quantities
of oranges that grow), many pretty little black-eyed girls
and boys, all stark naked, rushed out to meet us, and we
found an array of men ready to beat. Away we went
to beat a rocky hill, and I was posted, commanding a
capital pass. One was a ledge down the side of a
precipice opposite me, and the other was to my left.
Hardly had the beaters commenced when I saw a stag
come trotting out down the left-hand pass ; he was a
young gentleman. However, I wanted to get him, but the
fates still were unkind ; he turned off the run and passed
me about as far as the cottage bridge (200 yards).
I fired ! thud went the ball ; he staggered but recovered
himself, and away he went ; and to make it short, I never
got him. Loaded quietly and watched from my tuft
of grass like an old tiger. I expected my shot would
have caused any other deer that might have been in it
to shun my pass and take the one Brine commanded,
so was surprised to see a fine young stag creeping down
the ledge on the face of the precipice and coming
towards me ; down he came, cleared the waterfall with
one bound, and the next moment the tip of his antlers
appeared below me. I judged my distance and fired.
The stag reared in the air and fell dead with a heavy
crash into his very tracks far below. It was a grand
sight. The stag was a full-grown but young deer ; his
antlers small. Beat all day ; the sun very hot ; I could
hardly stand in one place, my feet were so scalded.
The next day we got some natives from the small
wigwam village to carry our two tents and traps, and
repaired on foot across the sweet, fresh mountains to
our new ground. Scenery grand. Our first sight of
the promised land I shall never forget ; the wildness

96 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

and grandness of these mountains is softened with such
a gentle beauty, that they have completely won my
heart, and have made me decide for many reasons to
put off my visit to Bengal for some months ; when I do
go, I shall consider myself bound to spend all the rest
of the time with the two H's. I may as well here ease
your mind by stating the reasons which have made me
so alter my plans. The Himalayas I entirely give up.
First, this part of India is much the most healthy, and
I cannot but feel that I should overdo myself if I take
the immense journey I at first planned. Had I not
knocked about so much before this Indian trip, I would
not think a second ; but I feel a longing to be stationary
for a little. Secondly, the shooting in this Presidency
is the only kind in India that would please me. In
Bombay and Bengal everything in the sporting line is
done on elephants, and the real habits of animals are
never seen. Now you know me well enough to know
I don't care for fuss and bother — stalking is all I care a
pin for. I don't think I shall take even my guns to
Bengal. You will see by the adventures I spin out
what funny sights I see by following every animal
among his native haunts. I am quite an authority even
now among old sportsmen from nothing but my mode
of shooting. Thirdly, I don't mind telling you now, as
it is all over, but the amount of uphill work I have had,
and the endless vexation and bother — what with servants
and many other little crosses I have cleared myself of—
has made me work up in the ins and outs of this part of
the world, and I feel quite at home, so don't want to
have it all again. Fourthly, I have made such a friend.
A Colonel Hamilton.1 Does the name strike you ?—

1 The Colonel, afterwards General Douglas Hamilton, mentioned in
this letter, is the author of Records of Sport in Southern India. I met him
in after years at Colebrooke, where he was ever a welcome guest ; his

v DOUGLAS HAMILTON 97

Douglas Hamilton ! He played with you all at
Sudbury ' long, long ago.5 Dear old Sir George he
remembered with feelings of great respect. He fancies
you were too young to remember him, but Sophy, as he
calls her, he well remembers. There was a large family
of them. How things do come to pass in this world.
Fancy him meeting me out here and finding all his old
childhood's days brought back in a great big flood to
his mind. I cannot tell you how I love the dear old
fellow. He is the acknowledged best sportsman
(stalker ; he never shot off an elephant in his life) in
Southern India — Old Velvet Foot, as he signs himself in
his letters in the Sporting Magazine. He is the most
exquisite draughtsman, and is employed by Government
to sketch different parts of the hill ranges in this
Presidency. Every adventure (and there are some
funny ones) he has a small rough sketch of, and for the
twenty-five years in India he can give an exact account
out of a most accurate journal. Since I began this, I
have been out with him after ibex (wild goats), the most
difficult animal in India to bag ; the account will come
in its place. I was four days out in what he calls his
* wigwam ' (the old hunters' wigwam). It is a hut he
built to shoot ibex from eight years ago ; he is forty-
five years old and is going to retire, and how I long to
introduce him to you. The dear old boy ! Fancy him
in England ! He has the most glorious beard, like a
great waterfall, and as silky as silk. He will win you to
him by his genial manner in half an hour, and his funny
way of telling adventures would amuse you uncommonly.
One thing you will thank him for, I know, is, he makes
me draw ; he says it has been the greatest pleasure in

collection of sambur heads is, I believe, the finest ever sent out of India ;
he presented them to Victor Brooke. General Hamilton died about two
years ago.

98 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

his wild lonely life. I go with him again on Wednesday,
the day after to-morrow. Excuse this long digression,
but it will, I hope, make you give me credit for an
increase of sense. Our next place of camping was on
a little greensward ; I can't describe the beauty of the
spot, so won't try ; you must use your imagination. An
old jungle cock (wild domestic cock) was standing on
it when I first saw it, and he crowed and shook himself
as much as to say, ' Hallo ! All you ladies, come and
look at a new kind of monkey ; I never saw such a thing
before!' That evening I went out for a stroll and
found fresh marks of father Bruin all about, and saw
plenty of tracks of deer. Next morning away at four
o'clock ; the country being unknown, we had to explore
it. After wandering about some time, we saw a great
precipice looking down into a beautiful forest ; clamber-
ing to the very edge, I lay looking over the edges of it for
a pair of sticks ; presently a lovely head peered out of
a lot of brushwood some hundreds of feet below. I
showed it to Brine ; it was a fine young stag, with very
fair antlers ; it was an awful shot, but I felt confident
in my favourite Purdey rifle (old Jack as I call him),
so took steady aim. The stag bounded in the air and
fell dead with a heavy crash. It was a fine shot, I must
own. Such work as we had, carrying the head and
meat home, we did all ourselves. I find this letter will
take too long if I spin it out too much, so must go to
the best parts. When we came back to the tents, we
found a bear had walked quietly past them, sitting on
a rock and staring at them in blank astonishment. We
never saw him again, so don't be uneasy. We found
some wild men at the tents waiting to see us and ask
for meat. They said a ' monster stag ' lived in the
glen, and that a tree grew from his head. Brine and I
set off to what was considered his favourite haunt and

v THE MUCKLE HART 99

found his huge footmarks and his bathing-place. From
that moment I had no peace ; I watched morning and
evening in hopes of seeing my c heart's own darling/
but for many days in vain. I shot more young stags,
but I despised them. Where, where, was the ' Monarch
of the Glen ' ? At last, one evening, returning late home
in a very wild, solitary spot where no white man's
foot had ever trod the earth in search of game, I first
saw the grand old stag. The sun was just setting, and
all the western sky was tinged with pink. The little
birds were warbling their evening song ; the old jackals
were just popping from their dismal holes. The belling
of deer was rousing the silent echoes of the grave, dark
crags, and all nature seemed to add its charm to the
moment. Brine was walking first and I was following,
puzzling my head as to when I should be rewarded for
my trouble. I don't know what made me do so, but I
turned my head to look at the lovely sunset, when a
sight met my gaze which sent a feeling through me
that the grim old Mysore man-eater would have failed
to do. My knees trembled, and involuntarily I sank
into the long grass. Brine like clockwork did the same.
On a rise of a hill, full in the light of the sinking sun,
stood the ' Muckle hart of Glen Strae.' His huge,
massive antlers stood out in grand relief against the
soft colouring of the sky, and his long matted mane
looked like what one fancies an old lion's, as he strides
about in the cool of an African evening. I was rapt
in the scene with such deep interest that I did not
think of getting at the deer. He stood quite still and
silent, looking at us with a long fixed gaze. At last I
thought of the stalk, but alas ! it was too late ; we never
should have had light ; so with a feeling that sickened me,
I was obliged to satisfy myself with watching the to me
fatal shades of night close themselves round my darling.

H

ioo SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

He never moved but disappeared like a shadow almost
imperceptibly. It was the most imposing scene I ever
saw. I need not say I slept little that night — phantom
antlers of gigantic size floated before me in ceaseless
motion. Some days after we settled to sleep in a wild
man's ruined hut, so as to be off before daybreak to
some very wild country. What would you dear folks
think when I tell you we knew for certain that a tiger,
a black panther (very rare ; I saw him, but he was too
quick ; I never got a shot), and an old bear all lived
within as far as the deer park of our rackety old
wigwam ? We slept well, bar the fleas which, saving
your presence, abounded. I was aroused during the
night by the belling (note of alarm or surprise of the
sambur) of the deer all round us. Long ere day we
were off and perched, well hidden, on a commanding
height ; just as it was getting light I made out a
large pair of antlers growing as if out of the top of
a hill. I found it was a very fine stag lying down ;
I had a very difficult stalk of two hours and a half
and bagged him — a long and good shot, as he was
going at speed. The very next day, still with faint
hopes of the ' monster,' I was off in the dark. Just as
light was stealing quietly into each dark corner in
succession, I thought I saw some brushwood moving
violently about a mile down. Up with glass. Picture
my emotions, for I cannot describe them. It was indeed
the proud old lord, cleaning those heavenly antlers by
taking up the long lemon grass and brushwood and
tossing it about. He had just had his bath, and was
cleaning the mud from his head and neck. How I
watched his every movement. After doing the toilet
business to satisfaction, he thought he would just pluck
a leaf or two before going to his lair for the day, so up
on his hind legs he got. I can't go through all, but

A GRAND HEAD 101

must conclude this yarn. He after many most interest-
ing manoeuvres fed straight towards us and walked into
a very small sholaJi (wood). Thinking he would stop
there some time, Brine went round to give him his wind,
whilst I cut him off from his favourite jungle. As I
was on the way there the old stag and I met face to
face ; my heart turned two or three somersets and then
stuck in my throat. He saw me plainly as I saw him.
He was an awful long way off, but no time was to be lost.
Now or never; I fired ! The stag gave a convulsive bound
but recovered, and placing his immense antlers along
his back, he charged like an old bull bison through the
long brushwood, straight to the forest. I thought all
was lost, but was led towards the spot ; I fired at him ;
as I went there I fancied I heard a sigh and a heavy
breathing, but attended to nothing, got the track, followed
it up, and oh ! my dear, good mother, round a turn we
found the aged stag stone dead, looking in death like the
most grand, grand picture. His antlers were enormous.
Oh, how I long to see them safe in dear old C. B. ! how
you will appreciate them ! I assure you, my greatest
pleasure at times is to think of showing you all my
trophies, and feeling they are thought something of.
Hard won they are, but it's that which adds the deep
pleasure of having deserved them. Could you have
seen the proud expression in the glazed eye of that
old stag ; his immense size ; his matted mane ; in fact, the
glorious old fellow, as he lay when I first touched him,
I should be happy, but I must be content with you
seeing the grand head. He is one of the finest stags
that has ever been shot in India. Hamilton says he
must be twenty or twenty -five — fancy, older than
myself! I killed five stags in that expedition and in
the last month four — one very fine stag and a grand
old black buck ibex. The most difficult creature in

102 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

India to stalk, shoot, or bag ; they inhabit the most
inaccessible crags ; and it is a grand sight to see a
fine old weatherbeaten buck standing on a peak,
with clouds drifting wildly round him. I bagged
mine very easily, comparatively speaking ; but it is
a great trophy — except the old stag and the bison's
head my most valuable as yet. I hope this has not
bothered you ; but I am sure the * old stag ' will find a
corner in your affections when you see him."

To HIS MOTHER.

"BLACKWOOD COTTAGE, OOTACAMUND,
20th April 1863.

Just in for a few days to the settlement and then
again off for the wilds.

And now for the story of the death of my first two
tigers ; they are both exciting, but the first was unsatis-
factory and the latter is satisfactory. The first I take
from my Journal.

Tuesday. — Off at daybreak to the stags' pool ; as
we were cautiously looking about (for deer), a hollow
roar resounding deeply round the valley caused us
both — Brine and I — to crouch, and Brine's eye made
out two tigers on a very craggy hill about one
mile from us. On looking with the glass we saw that
they were tiger and tigress (the tigress may be known
from her slighter make ; her more vicious and longer
face; her lighter colour; the beauty of her skin, and her
smaller size). The latter was lying down, and her
husband was looking into her amiable (?) face, swaying
his huge head backwards and forwards with a sleepy
but impatient motion. It was a very grand and
imposing sight to watch these two noble brutes

TWO TIGERS 103

enjoying ' domestic felicity.' We looked at them for
about a quarter of an hour, then, having determined to
stalk them, took our line of country and started. We
were obliged to make a circuit of some 3 miles, so
as to come down over the rocks above them (always
keep above a tiger). The country was very rough, and
I got one severe fall, but am not much the worse. As
we neared the back of the hill, on the other side of
which the tigers were basking, we began to take every
precaution. I took off my boots, fearing the nails
might make noise enough to reach the watchful ears,
and made Brine sit down, while I went to reconnoitre
alone. I crept straight down to a rock I had marked,
from which I calculated that I could kill one or both ;
at first I saw no tigers and was beginning to fear they
had vanished, when the noble old male tiger walked
full in view, about 60 yards lower down the hill. I
made a sign to Brine, and at the same time took cool,
steady aim at the tiger's shoulders. Bang ! — the tiger
bounded full 5 feet in the air, and coming down with
a heavy muffled sound on a rock below him, slipped
off that with a loud crash into the brushwood below.
There he lay for a moment quivering in all his
enormous limbs. Thinking he was dead, I would not
fire the other barrel, expecting the other tiger, but
presently the dying monster moved slightly and set
himself rolling down the hill. Fearing we should lose
him, Brine fired and hit him, again rolling him over
motionless. But not dead yet ; he struggled, and bump,
bump, down the hill he went again, crashing through
the low, long brushwood like a huge cannon-ball. I
fired again and again, the bullet told but did not stop
him. Crash, crash, crackle, crack ! Bang ! down the
hill he went like an elephant in a bamboo jungle. As
he came to the bottom all life seemed gone ; he regularly

io4 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

bounded with the severity of the bumps as he fell from
rise to rise, and coming to a high rock, about the height
of the dining-room, he disappeared over it with a heavy
thud into the thick brambly nullah which divided the
hill we were on from the next. ' At last I've killed a
tiger,' thought I, with intense satisfaction. But where
is the wife all this time ? — till now nowhere to be seen.
But when all our barrels were empty, on a rock, about
10 yards from where the other tiger was when first
fired at, we saw the grim, sleek-faced, yet beautiful
creature standing eyeing us with the most savage,
determined look in that 'cold gray eye' of hers.
Keeping my eye steadily fixed on hers, I rammed
down the ball, put on the cap and prepared to
extinguish her ; she had never moved a muscle all the
time. Steady, bang ! divil a move, your ladyship. Troth
I missed her — don't ask how. I can't say it is the
only shot of the kind I have missed in India ; I felt as
if a giant had swallowed me, so very little did I appear ;
I could only just see out of my boots. The tigress
then jumped off the rock and walked sulkily away.
Brine fired and missed ; she was now a long way off ;
and as she bounded into a small wood, with her tail
swinging behind her, I let fly and hit her. She gave a
roar, and took an awful spring into the jungle ;
presently out she came again and lay down to cool her
wound in a brook ; after doing this she disappeared
again. We went to look at the first tiger and found
him mizzled ; he had crept off I All that day and the
next we looked for him ; but though we were sure he
was dead, we could not find a sign. This last expedi-
tion, six weeks afterwards, I found part of his skull,
and that is all I shall ever find of my first tiger. Un-
satisfactory ; but I am glad I found even it. Now for
the other — the great bag of V. A. B."

v IBEX 105

The following is partly an extract from his diary
and partly taken from a letter to his mother : —

" INDIA.

Up at four o'clock. My eye still felt very weak and
sore. At Glen Strae we saw no deer, so turned sharp
to the right (the coffee-planters having gone) and
examined the high precipices hanging over the Mayar
Valley in hopes of ibex ; nor were we disappointed, as
we immediately descried an old doe lying at the edge
of an awful precipice. Examining the ground well
with glass we discovered a kid with her, and also two
other ibex — one a buck — lying on the eagles' crag.
The old mother and young were divided from the
others by the jutting sides of what I have named the
eagles' crag. It was a most interesting sight to see
the old lady rise in a few moments and encourage the
little one to follow her round it. How they kept their
footing is a matter incomprehensible to me. The little
kid did not like it at first, but presently it plucked up
courage and turned the dangerous points. It was now
my turn ; the mother and kid had lain down again, the
old one choosing the very highest point of the crag.
The stalk was a most difficult one, and I despaired
of making it good. * Never say die ! ' carries one
through queer things, so I took off my boots and went
at it. With great care I managed to get within 150
yards of the ibex, and fancied I was going to succeed
after all, when up jumped the old doe. I cannot tell
even now whether she saw me or not ; but any way,
such was my impression at the time, so I covered her
and fired ; she reeled off the rock, and the brown buck
instantly bounded into her footsteps ; without taking
Purdey from my shoulder, I pulled at him, and over he
went — down, down, through the air like a round ball —

io6 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

away, away, far over the precipice into the jungles
below. The other ibex got off as only ibex can, and I
never saw them again. On looking over the precipice
we at first agreed that to recover my ibex was im-
possible ; but after a minute or two's indecision my old
climbing propensities got the better of me, and I
determined to try the climb. Fool ! little did I know
what I might lose by it. We were both suffering
greatly from thirst, and Brine said he really could not
come with me, but would go to the hut, so I went
alone. Experientia docet, and I had not climbed since
a little child for nothing ; my eye readily planned out
the way down, and down I eventually got, but not
without two heavy falls, in both of which I seriously
injured my dear old Purdey rifle. The heat was
terrible, and my thirst was raging like a furnace. At
the bottom a little water trickled slowly through the
rocks. Oh, what a Godsend ! warm and horrid as it
was ; and after all my pains, though I looked till I
was quite exhausted, I could not find the ibex. So
back again I climbed, regained my rifle which I had
been obliged to leave behind me half-way, and after
some queer work got to the top and home again tired,
disappointed, and disgusted. After a desperate break-
fast I went to the saddle in the evening and tried a
long shot at a peacock but missed. Bad headache that
evening ; sent Purdey in with a note to Hamilton.

6tk August. — At earliest dawn I started alone for the
Peak Rock, but only saw a small ibex and two hinds,
and could not get a shot at them. Fired at a sambur
but missed him. The heat being great, I had a bathe
and then went home utterly disgusted. On the way
saw marks of a bear. A dreadful storm came on in
the evening.

'jth August. — Started with B. before dawn for some

MISSED A TIGER 107

new ground which I wished to explore. The scenery
was noble ; the rising sun having the grandest effect
among the cliffs and crags jutting up on all sides.
But no game — what can be up ? — no game to be seen.
B. not being up to work, I went off alone to a ridge
that looked over some new ground, about a mile more
N.E. than we had yet been. The breeze on this
ridge was one of the most delightful luxuries I ever
experienced. I lay and enjoyed it thoroughly, looking
over that grand scenery. A sambur kept belling
below, and I heard two bears laughing in the long
lemon grass far below me. Nothing appearing, I
turned and strolled quietly homewards. Just as I
was descending into a dip in the side of the hill,
walking on a deer-run, high trees and brushwood
being on each side of me as high as my head, I saw a
splendid tiger descending into the dip on the far side
on the same path as me. It was decidedly an awkward
position. The worst of it was, I had not my dear old
rifle. Oh ! how I cursed that horrid black buck ibex
now. I squatted instantly and hastily arranged my
plans. They were as follows : — A tree overhung the
path about 80 yards from me on the tiger's side of
the dip ; I determined to try and brain him as he passed
under it. To let him into the thick underwood in the
nullah would be madness, as the next time we saw
each other it would have been face to face at about 5
yards. On came the tiger, and a grand beast he looked
as he swaggered along. Slowly he came to the tree,
and when he was under it he lingered as if conscious
of some danger. Oh for Purdey ! I felt ; had I but
the old gun, I should kill him dead. After a little
delay on he came again, with his huge head swinging
from side to side, with his tail in the air ; away he
went crash through the thick matted underwood, as

io8 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

though it were grass. I had missed him clean ; I
fired the second barrel, but with like result. After
dashing through the briers, etc., for about 100 yards,
the tiger sprang on to a rock and looked all round
him for a second or so, and then on he went again.
Maddened with disgust, I loaded, and like a fool ran
after him, but luckily he was not wounded, or dearly
would I have paid for such rashness. Low-spirited
and disgusted, I strode home. I saw him again that
evening, but could not get a shot ; I saw nothing.

%th August. — Not feeling well, I lay in bed this
morning, and about eight o'clock B. sent in to say he
had seen an old gray boar, but failed to bag him. I
got a shot at a splendid peacock ; with Purdey he
would have paid dear enough, but I missed him with
Moore clean. In the evening I went and sat for the
boar, thinking I might see him, but he dodged me in
an extraordinary manner. He is a fine old boar. The
clouds darkened, and I thought an awful storm was
coming on, but it blew over.

gth August. — Started off alone for Glen Strae at
earliest dawn. Saw an old hind lying down, and
watched her for some time. I then went round by the
ibex rocks, and amused myself by throwing stones at
lizards. My shoes hurt my feet sadly. In the evening
B. went to the sentinel and I to the boar's hill. About
five o'clock, with my glass, I saw B. fire, then run a
short way and fire again. Presently he came towards
me, and I saw he was on his way home. Nothing
being likely to be on the move after the shooting, I
went slowly round the hill and down to the big sholah,
meeting him. He told me he had wounded one boar ;
but it being so dark and the cover thick, he did not
like to follow him that evening, and that not 100
yards back he had met my old friend, the gray

v BOAR AND TIGER FIGHT 109

' dodger ' boar. Hardly were the words out of his
mouth when there was a rush behind us, accompanied
with the grunting growls of the very same boar. Out he
rushed over the open space, every bristle up. Just as
I put up the gun there was a growl like distant
thunder ; a yellow mass slid over the bubbling torrent
that lined the sholah, bounded up the rise, and with
one awful spring, launched itself on to the old boar's
back. Over the two rolled in a deadly struggle. At
first the old boar seemed to hold his own, and inflicted
one or two ferocious gashes in the tiger's breast, but it
was only for a moment. Driven mad with fury, the
awful paw rose and then descended with a muffled
crash on the old boar's back, and the next instant
those dreadful fangs were deeply buried in the gallant
old pig's throat. All this happened almost before we
could draw breath. Oh that I had waited to see this
grand fight out ! but all the coolness was driven out of
me at the suddenness of the sight. Coolness in one's
room at home and coolness standing within 20
yards of a royal tiger and a mighty boar in mortal
combat are two very different things. Hardly taking
aim, I let fly, and both barrels went into something ;
but the fight still went on. So engrossed with her
object, the infuriated beast never heard the shot or felt
the bullets. She was now shaking the boar, just as a
dog does a large hare. Presently the wounds she
had received began to tell ; she got weaker and
weaker, let go the boar, and slunk off to the sholah.
The boar, finding himself free, toddled off, staggering
like a drunken man. The tiger, when she got to the
torrent, pulled up and looked round her, and for the
first time discovered our presence. As she did so she
exposed her full broadside, and B. most imprudently
fired at her. Whether he hit her or not I cannot say ;

i io SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

anyway she never flinched to the shot, but for a
second or two stood coolly facing us. It was, I must
own, a very nervous minute. Had she charged she
must have killed one or both of us, but her heart failed
her. Whisking her long tail, she bounded grandly
over the roaring torrent and disappeared into the wood.
Not a sign of the pig was to be seen, so, it being too
dark to think of tracking, we reluctantly returned to
the hut, cogitating on the heavy work we will have to-
morrow— one wounded tiger and two wounded boars.
Oh that I had Purdey !

I oth April. — Off at the earliest dawn. We could not
find a sign of the boar. This is most singular ; how he
escaped after the awful mauling he got quite beats me ;
I can't understand it. Immediately found blood on the
tiger's track — quantities of it — leading straight up the
hill. It was the most ticklish piece of tracking by far
that I ever experienced. Had the wounded tiger been
anywhere near and alive, so steep was the hill, that to
stop a charge would have been hopeless. Expecting
to find her dead, we still kept the track. In one or
two places we found that she had lain down, and sticks
and twigs were saturated with her blood. At one
place the track led into such a thick place that we
described circles round it ; but, do all we could, we
could find no more blood. Thinking she was in this
tangled mass of jungle, we made B.'s second man climb
different trees and look in, but no sign of her ; nor did
we ever find her track farther, though we came back
after breakfast with several of the Todas to help, and
spent a long time looking for fresh blood. We were
just as unsuccessful with B.'s boar, never hitting off the
track. Utterly disgusted with this run of bad luck, I
turned into bed that night with the fixed determina-
tion that, come what might, I would account for the

BAD LUCK in

next tiger I saw, or he should account for me. As we
came back from B.'s boar we found the black monkey
that I had shot two days ago had been eaten by a tiger.
I found the track close by the remains, which consisted
of a piece of fur here and there. Ordered a buffalo
from the Todas. Purdey arrived. Hurra !

Saturday, 1 1 th April. — Not feeling very well, I lay
in bed and had a good long sleep, which much re-
freshed my wearied body. At two o'clock went with
the Todas, and tied up the buffalo at a pass in the big
sholah, well known to B. and self as a regular tiger
walk. Sat till 5.45 in hopes of seeing something of
the tiger.

Sunday, \2th April. — Strolled out at dawn with the
rifles ; looked at the buffalo, but he was not touched.
We then sat on a high rock I have named the ' Watch
Rock.' Presently B. called me and said he saw a stag.
Wanting meat, we determined to stalk. I arranged
the stalk. B. was to go up and stalk him if possible
on the hillside on which he was quietly browsing, and
I would get between him and his wood, and cut him off
if alarmed or wounded ; this answered admirably. B.
got a shot and grazed him, whereupon he made off
with a bound to his wood, but a ball from the dear old
rifle crashing through his shoulder at about 100 yards
rolled him over and over. He, however, regained his
legs, and, without knowing it, charged straight at me,
but I dropped him dead with a ball in the neck.

I have built a hut in the stags' glen — a kind of
shooting-box ; and it is to that place I shall ever look
back with the fondest affection. The Todas (the abori-
gines of these hills) are a fine, manly race, totally
different to any of the other tribes of Hindoostani.
The origin has puzzled our most persevering and
clever wiseacres. They wear no covering to the head

ii2 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

at any time ; in fact, their only dress is a long white
sheet thrown round them. They have a decided
Roman cast of feature, are tall, well made, olive -
coloured complexions. The women are beautiful ;
many a Belgravian maiden would covet their eyes,
teeth, hair, feet, and hands. The men are handsome,
with long curly hair, jet-black. Their sole occupation
is herding immense flocks, or rather herds, of buffaloes.
These animals are nearly wild, and will charge a white
man in the most savage and inconsiderate manner. The
Todas live in small wigwams (huts) in total darkness ;
their habits are simple and primitive to a degree ; they
consider us trespassers, and themselves as the only
lawful inhabitants of these charming hills. When first
I went to my hut they had never seen a white man, so
I allowed them to bring their young ladies, who seemed
extremely anxious to see such a curious sight, and let
them have a good stare, which I returned with decided
interest. They consider me their protector, as they
say, * When the great hunter is here, we fear no tigers
for our herds ; at a wave of his hand the striped
demons vanish ! ' They consider tigers as devils sent
to persecute them by one of their gods. To go back
to our bit of mutton. These Todas came to me on
my arrival, saying that two tigers were doing them
immense harm, killing buffalo after buffalo — a tiger and
a tigress. The tiger they described as an immense
animal, and the tigress as a most savage, cunning
brute that they very seldom saw, though she did more
harm than her more reasonable spouse. I promised that
I would set to work and do my best to rid them of
either one or both. I demanded one buffalo to be
given me as necessary to accomplish my purpose.
This they willingly acceded to. I then set to work
and made myself thoroughly acquainted with the

TIGER CUBS 113

fastnesses, walks, drinking - places ; in fact, all the
habits of these two tigers in particular. My great
experience with tigers in general stood me in good
stead. (Hamilton says I have seen more of tigers and
their habits than perhaps any man of twenty years'
shooting now in Southern India — more than himself.)
How bad my luck has been with them you may see,
but the ice is broken. The tigress, I found, was
extremely cunning ; her smaller footmark being found
only among the wildest crags in my hunting ground.
She evidently was a creature who slept with her eyes
open. Well, after a thorough investigation of all the
tiger paths crossing across nullahs, I chose what I con-
sidered the most generally used, and tied up the
buffalo close to it. About the fourth morning we
found her dead, but on examination found she had
died a natural death. It was better that it was so, as
tigers are great carrion-eaters, and the dreadful smell
would attract them. The next morning, as I cal-
culated, we found the round of beef eaten, and the
buffalo, who was tied with immense creepers, dragged
with her neck clean out of the socket Stealing
quietly into the tree, we sit quiet as mice in expecta-
tion of the tiger every moment. About 8.30, B., who
was sitting above me, gently touched my head with his
foot. Cautiously looking round, I saw the striped back
of a tiger creeping towards the buffalo. It was dread-
fully exciting work. Right under me crept the beast.
Oh, disappointment, disappointment still ! It was
two young cubs about as big as an Irish water-dog. It
was perfectly wonderful to see the caution displayed by
these little blackguards. They stole round in a circle
examining the ground most carefully before they
touched their breakfast. At last, satisfied all was right,
they set to work and certainly made up for lost time.

H4 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

No sooner were they at work when, to my astonish-
ment, up crept another, and then another young tiger.
These mimicked the first two exactly, not a whit less
wary because the others had gone first. For a good
hour we watched this juvenile party, and not being
1 5 yards from the carcase, we had a good view of
them. I took out my sketch-book and drew one of
them. Every moment we expected the old one, and
would not fire. But not yet — wait, old boy, wait
patiently, your reward will come sure enough. The
young cubs left one by one, and about 10.30 down we
got from the tree and crept silently away. At two
o'clock we were again at our post, and sat till dark,
but no tiger came. This was B.'s day ; he won the
toss, and had the tiger come, he was to have shot him.
To-morrow is mine !

Thursday ', i6tk April. — At dawn again on our
uncomfortable perch, patiently we watched as the slow
hours dragged wearily on, but no tiger came. A
splendid Neilgherry martin cat passed under the tree
we were on ; he was glossy black, about the size of a
small fox, with a yellow chest. At ten o'clock we
crept away, had breakfast, and bringing the Ingoldsby
Legends as a help to pass the weary time, were again
in the tree at two o'clock. The stench of the carcase
was positively awful, but I was determined that no
paltry peccadillo should lose me this tiger ; I was mad
with past bad luck, and when I reflected on all priva-
tions, disappointments, and hardships I had gone
through for a tiger, I determined to do my duty this
time. Hour after hour went slowly round, but nothing
came to break the monotony. Myriads of beetles
kept up a grating noise, something like that made by
a fishing reel. The brook at the bottom of the nullah
dashed, bubbled, and dashed, and caused such a sleepy

AT LAST 115

sensation to both of us, already worn out with watching,
that B. fell fast asleep, and it was only by fixing my
mind steadily on what was at stake, that I managed to
keep my eyes open. Four — half-past four — five. If
the tiger comes at all to-night, we may now expect
him every moment. Half-past five — six — half-past six.
B.'s still fast asleep. The old disappointed feeling is
beginning, despite all my efforts, to creep over me ; but
with a frantic effort I master it, and keep every sense
keener on the qui vive more than ever. Suddenly a
sight glided into view that roused me most effectually.
The great head, neck, forearms, and long, beautifully
marked back of mine enemy, the tigress, stood before
me ; she came, with her soft creeping strides, and sat
down behind a tree, and began to lick herself with the
thoughts of the delicious banquet she was just going to
indulge in. There are such things as slips between
the cup and the lips, so it proved with my grim-looking
foe. I took a good look ; I thought her lovely past
expression ; in fact, she was * beautiful ' ; her soft, white,
but most massive chest, her immense arms, her beautiful
head, so long as you did not look at that cold, blood-
thirsty eye, the perfect symmetry of her graceful form —
all were noticed and appreciated in that, I think, most
exciting moment of my life. I turned cautiously to
Brine ; he was fast asleep, caught like a bag of sawdust
in the branches ; the old fever-worn frame is not able
to stand so long a stress as in former days. I
chirped like a bird (the signal of tiger), but for some
time in vain ; my hair stood like a toothbrush with
fear and anxiety. At last I caught his eye, and one
glance at me was enough to put him all on the qui
vive. Turning gently, I saw her royal highness still
there, and saw she intended sitting there till dark.
She was about 25 yards off, and I made up my mind

I

n6 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

to shoot her at once, and not wait as I had intended
till she began to feed. What was my disgust like
when I found, from the position I was sitting in, it was
perfectly impossible to shoot her off my right shoulder !
Now for a little resolution — to move was to lose the
noble brute, as I was full in the radius of her eye, she
being on the same level as myself, owing to the slope
of hill on which the jungle grew. Watching her eye,
at least the expression of her face, I moved the rifle
and put it up to my left shoulder, took steady aim for
her heart, firing into the middle of that snow-white
breast. Oh the excitement of that moment ! I pulled
the trigger most cautiously, and a click was all the
result ! The cap had missed fire ! As quick as thought
I pulled the other trigger, and at that second, that all-
important second, I was steady as a rock ; I felt sure
the bullet had gone to the right place. The tigress, on
receiving the deadly pill, sprang high in the air with a
low muffled roar, and came straight at the tree we
were in. I never saw such fury, such ungovernable
rage. Her face, which a minute before was beautiful
and almost gentle-looking, was now literally alive with
deadly hatred and defiance ; her awful teeth glittered like
knives as she sprang about. We were, of course, quite
safe (I consider it certain proof of ignorance and craft
of the nature of a tiger for one to put themselves in
any real danger ; tigers, if you really understand the
thing, may be shot with fair safety), being 20
feet up the tree. The tigress missed the tree, and
turned off at right angles and went springing with
immense bounds through the jungle. Brine let fly at
her to finish her if possible, but at the report her rage
if possible doubled ; she pulled up short, snapped a
small tree off at the roots and tore it into pieces ; then
the thought evidently struck her that the dreaded being

v DEATH OF FIRST TIGER 117

that had given her her deathblow would be found
about the tree she was sitting by when fired at. It
was more like a yellow mass shot out of a gun than a
tiger springing, the pace she went back to it after
annihilating the tree to her satisfaction. I have never
seen anything so extraordinary (their spring is calculated
faster than the fastest antelope) ; but when within 5
feet of it, she staggered and fell on a large forest
creeper ; this she tugged down like a piece of thread,
but the poor creature's moments were getting very
short ; she fell over again on her side, but again made
an effort to reach the unfortunate tree, but it was in
vain ; she reared straight up on her hind legs, struck
wildly with her massive arms, and then with a groan
sprang away into the air and fell over stone dead^ not a
gasp or quiver. How I did look and look at that
dead tiger ; her beauty was most striking ; in a cage
their muscle fades and dwindles away. On examina-
tion we found my heavy ball gone clean through her
heart and the whole length of her body, and found it
by her tail. I have the bullet to show you. Brine's
had merely cut the skin of her left foreleg, just above
the foot ; it had broken no bones, nor indeed done any
harm even to the beautiful skin, but it had rendered
her mad. This shows what it is to shoot tigers.
Fancy dashing about like that after being shot through
the middle of the heart. Her skin is a most lovely
one, and I need not say I am not a little proud of it ;
her skull is also in its prime — such teeth ! The next
day the Todas carried the tigress home, singing their
war-song and dancing, and at one place the women
met them, and they put me in the middle of them,
laying the mighty Purdey (old Jack, my favourite rifle)
by the tigress, singing the war whoops, dancing round
me, the tiger, and the women. This was a great honour ;

ii8 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

they then presented me with some walking-sticks, one
of which I shall have mounted with a gold tiger's head.
The delight of the poor people at seeing that the ' she
devil ' was dead quite repaid me for the ugly job of
sitting over the sweet-flavoured buffalo. Love to all."

Wednesday, 2gth April. — I started on the old
Cabool about two o'clock, and arrived at the old hut
about four. I immediately set off with H.'s Lascar,
taking Purdey and Moore for the upper crags, in hopes
of ibex, but saw none. On the way home, after the sun
had set and the moon was up, the Lascar spied two
hinds walking against the sky-line ; having promised
Michael some feet for jelly, I proceeded at once on my
moonlight stalk. With little trouble, the wind being
good, I crept within 60 yards of them ; but the light
was so trying I missed clean with my first barrel, but
made a capital shot with the second, bowling the
largest hind over like a hare, as she went full speed
against the sky-line. The distance was about 80
yards. Like an ass I fired one barrel of Moore after
the others (another had joined them), but as usual did
no good. I never will be able to shoot with this gun.

Thursday, ^oth April — Having despatched the
Lascar and two coolies for the feet, etc., of the hind I
shot last night, Francis and I started in the gray of the
morning for the little ibex rocks. Hamilton had
advised me to take this route in hopes of coming across
an old bull bison that was said to haunt these woods.
As we approached the ground, tracks of deer became
very numerous, but not a sign of a bison. But though
lots of sambur had fed over the ground during the
night not one was to be seen now, early as it was.
Seeing this, we pushed on to the slopes on which
Hamilton once shot a very handsome stag, whose head

A WASTED HEAD 119

now hangs over the fireplace in Blackwood Cottage.
As I was cautiously peering over some rocks in hopes
of ibex, both barrels being on full cock, the left one
went off in my hand. Most providentially Francis was
well out of the way. This is the barrel that was so
much injured in the fall after the brown buck on the
eagle rock on the 5th inst It is only roughly
patched up, but I cannot spare my " ould weepon " if it
went off every hour. Utterly disgusted with making all
this noise to no purpose after our long work, I loaded
and started off down the slopes in decidedly an
unenviable state of mind. Our only chance now was
down close to the edge of the Great Forest. For some
time we crept and poked about in vain, though the
marks of deer surrounded us. At last, as I was giving
up all hopes, Francis became greatly excited, and
beckoning me to him, pointed below us ; on looking I
saw a very heavy, dark-looking stag lurching off towards
the jungle. Off went Purdey, and head over heels
rolled the stag with a ball through the shoulders,
entering between them, so much above him was I. He
went on rolling, and never stopped till he came to a
precipice, over which he crashed like a huge rock. On
going down to him I found a magnificent stag stone
dead. His enormous horns were in velvet, and but
half-formed. I have never seen such a stag either
before or since. Round the coronet he measured 14
inches ; his brow antlers were 1 6 inches and not
finished growing, and the beam was about 9 inches. Oh
how I wished I had never killed such a noble stag, and
nothing gained by it ! With something like the
feelings of a murderer I clambered back again, intending
to send the Todas for the meat, and make them bring
me the feet About half an hour afterwards, as we
were striding along over the hills, we came across a

120 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

handsome stag travelling. I emptied my barrels at
him, all very long shots, but did not touch him ; he was
a very handsome, long-antlered stag, and I was very
sorry to lose him. Loading, we went on again, never
expecting another shot ; but hardly had we gone 300
yards when there was a rustle in the sholah, and out
broke two hinds. Hearing something still moving in
the wood, I waited, expecting a stag, and sure enough
out he came, a small, scrubby-headed young fellow. I
put a ball clean through his shoulders which staggered
him, but he sustained the wound bravely, and struggled
over the hill. Loading, I followed, and got a very long
shot over the sholah, but, I think, missed ; he fell as he
dashed into the jungle, but recovered himself, and went
in with a crash. I followed ; there was lots of blood
at first, but eventually we lost it, and the stag also,
though he must have been dead close by. Bother the
thing ! I hate losing a wounded animal ! In the after-
noon the Lascar and I went to the big sholah, near the
upper crags, after choosing a good position in among
some rocks, about 100 yards from the edge of the
jungle. About 6.30 a soft-horned stag came out and
began playing about ; I could have shot him easily, but
would not ; he came back jumping and kicking towards
me, and it was ludicrous to see how quickly he changed
his tune ; upon getting across my wind he wheeled
round like a shot, and scampered off to the skolah as if
ten thousand fiends were at his heels. I was rather
afraid this would alarm any other deer that might be
near the edge of the jungle, but was agreeably surprised
when I saw a small stag come browsing out just about
dusk. It was a horrid light, but covering him as well
as I could I fired ; the ball struck him, I think, for he
bounded forward into a small hollow between me and him.
I crept forward, half expecting to find him dead, but not

v A GOOD BIT OF STALKING 121

a bit of it. He rushed off, and I missed him with the
second barrel. It was too dark to think of looking for
tracks, so I sneaked quietly round by the edge of the
wood.

To HIS MOTHER.

e 1863.

Right merrily the old horse carried me out, and at
about five o'clock I found myself at the rendezvous.
Two minutes more and the old ' weepon ' was loaded, the
horse sent back, and I was happy again, wandering with
the old black companion over wood and dale, with
the old friend, feeling like doing, lying nicely balanced
on my shoulder (the rifle, not Francis !). On coming
to the foot of the ibex hills I found my expectations
were not unfounded ; there, on the topmost pinnacle,
stood the old sentinel, as cunning an old lady as ever
breathed ; I was so far off that I fancied the stalk
could be made without alarming her, so edged slowly
into the forest that layabout I oo yards behind me. I will
not bother you with all the details of the stalk. In
some places it was desperate work. F. had to take the
rifle whilst I climbed up the precipices hanging on a
sheer drop below us. At last the top was won. On
cautiously peeping through the grass I saw the back of
a good male ibex about 60 yards from me ; his
quarters being turned to me I would not take the shot,
but taking off my boots, and slipping on an old green
skullcap, I determined to get nearer. This I accom-
plished rather too completely. I found myself within
5 yards of some of the ibex ; there's stalking for you,
my lady ! It was too close ; I had no time to look
for the gentleman, so had to content myself with
knocking over two splendid does right and left. One
was our friend the sentinel, and with one vast dive she

122 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

disappeared over the precipice. Carefully cutting off
the head of the other we started for camp, it being too
late to go down after the first ibex that evening. I
intended returning at gray dawn the next morning for
it. On gaining the higher parts of the hills where my
tents were pitched, I found it blowing a perfect hurri-
cane. The wind roaring over the wild hills and dole-
fully whistling through the crags, whilst the folds of
white mist flew across hill and dale, now and then dis-
closing the fiery setting sun as he sank behind some
sharp craggy peak, constituted one of those wild grand
scenes that no one in this wide world loves more than
I do. It is in moments like these that I find the
charms of my solitary life ; when the mind is wrapped
up and forms part of all around it, how grating and
harsh would sound even the voice of one's dearest
friend. The wind blew with such violence in some
places that we could hardly bear up against it, and old
Francis, with the picturesque curve of the old ibex's
head showing over his shoulders, staggering against it,
formed a picture I will never forget. At last we got to
the tents, and finishing a small leg of mutton with very
great ease, I hopped under my huge red blanket and
fell asleep, listening to the fury of the elements that
threatened every moment to tear the tent in pieces.
At earliest dawn old Francis made his appearance and
said it was raining like mad. Considering the torrent
outside was nicely sieved into a steady downpour inside
the tent, the news was unnecessary. Though decidedly
disagreeable, one does not rough it so constantly as I
have done these last few months, without ceasing even
to notice it. Up I got, and swallowing a bowl of
coffee minus milk and plus three eggs beaten in it, we
strode forth with the guns in holsters and most care-
fully shielded from one drop of rain. It's wonderful,

A STORMY DAY 123

when a man's life may at any moment depend upon his
rifle, what care he takes of it. The mists were still
drifting wildly over the hills, and we could not see 10
yards before us. Every now and then the rain came
down in a manner that those who have never ex-
perienced a storm in the tropics can form but small
notion of. Every now and then, as the strong rank smell
of ibex was wafted to us, we sat down and waited in
hopes the mists would clear off; but finding this useless,
we held on straight to the precipice the old sentinel
ibex fell over last evening. There we found the fog
much less dense, it being entirely cleared by the
furious wind every now and then. I had brought my
strong bull-dog called * Tiger ' with me in case the ibex
might give trouble to find ; but finding she had fallen
over on to another ledge made of hard rock, and from
that rolled still farther down and over another, I saw
Tiger would be useless, so left him and my second gun
with my dog boy at the top, whilst Francis, the tall,
* handsome Lascar ' (my second shikaree mentioned
in my last), proceeded to clamber down the crags.
Finding an ibex path, this was easily done, and with
little or no danger to three men so accustomed to it.
As we neared the bottom of the hill the precipices
stopped, and a green lawn like a beautiful carpet ran up
to the very foot of the crags. I thought it was queer
not seeing the ibex lying on this, but fancied she must
have caught in some corner, and that we should find
her all right. Suddenly I saw Francis whip out his
telescope and become greatly excited. On clambering
to him he pointed to a solitary thick thorny bush
growing in the middle of the green lawn. Up with
my binoculars, and a sight glided through them that
made my heart jump with joy and excitement : A
huge royal tiger lying on his side fast asleep. Here

124 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

was the thing then which had stolen my ibex.
Quickly sitting down, F. and I threw off our boots, and
slipping on a green skullcap, set to work to stalk him.
Stalking a stag is one thing, but stalking a tiger is
quite another. With the most painful care we crept
along — nearer and nearer we got, 60 yards — 50 yards —
soon I could fire. No small control does it take to
keep perfectly cool in such moments ; but if a man
cannot keep his head, he must not attempt to creep
upon a sleeping tiger. A small rock about 4 feet
high offered a rest from which to fire. It was only 25
yards from the immense beast, but I determined to get
to it. So, keeping my eyes off the tiger, in case of
getting excited, I glided softly to the rock. Dear old
Francis would follow me ; his honest dark face wearing
a look of the most deep anxiety (I had sent the Lascar
back to the top for my second rifle). Making Francis
hide behind the rock, I cautiously peeped over. Ye
gods ! what a monster he looked ! Now that I was
really in for it, that calm, perfectly quiet feeling came
over my nerves that I have once or twice tried to
explain. You would hardly believe such an excitable
being could be so collected (I only mention this that
you need feel no anxiety about me losing presence of
mind, and thus falling into really unnecessary danger).
He was, I saw, an enormous tiger, and as I looked at
the dear old weapon, I wondered if he would fail me in
such a pinch. Not a bit of it ; I felt firm confidence
in my own shooting and the dear old rifle. Putting
my face down for a moment, I collected all my
thoughts, and cooled any little excitement the sight of
the huge beast might have caused. Feeling all square,
I put myself in position to fire, and was just going to
utter a soft whistle to make him put up his head (which
was lying on the ground), and offer a deadly shot,

A ROYAL TIGER 125

when of his own accord he lifted it and looked about
him. How noble he looked ; there's an air of majesty
about a royal tiger in his own native wilds that must
make a man feel what a pigmy he is compared to him.
I could not help pausing to admire him, almost for-
getting that there was nothing but a piece of lead
between us. At last the moment for action was come,
so taking cool steady aim between his ears / fired.
Gently, like a child falling asleep, the awful head sank
slowly down between his massive arms, and without the
faintest groan or struggle the spirit of the grim old
monarch fled. I could scarcely believe my senses ; so
surprised was I that I instantly fired the second barrel
for his heart ; but he moved not — those awful limbs were
still for ever. Loading, I cautiously went down to him
and found the ibex by his side. To describe my
feelings at that moment, I feel, is utterly impossible.
To describe the passing grandeur and magnificence of
this majestic animal, as he lay warm and harmless at
my feet, is equally so. As I gazed with proud pleasure
at his proud and noble head, his soft, lovely skin, his
large and awful teeth, his enormous arms and paws,
with the sharp curved claws, at his surpassingly beau-
tiful symmetry and grandeur throughout, I felt I had
indeed won the noblest prize this wide world can yield
a sportsman. His size was something I never saw
before ; his length is nearly 1 2 feet (measure that on the
floor and then imagine the tiger). His skin, which now
covers a great part of my room, is one of the shows of
Ootacamund, and the exclamations of some of the fair
ones, as they look at his fearful skull, amuse me. He
is indeed a noble trophy. I have heard many men who
have seen tigers' skins since boys, say they never saw
such a large skin. He is the regular mountain tiger,
whose great characteristic is the short thick tail ; had

126 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

he the long tail of the tiger of the plains, he would
measure as long as any tiger's skin at present in the
world ; as it is, he is one of the largest at present in the
Madras Presidency. Fancy that, my lady ! killed with
one ball on foot, and stalked like any stag ! I am a
bit proud of it, as you may easily see. How grand it
will look lying out in the bay window in the boudoir,
with the huge ,head stuffed. You will be proud of it, I
know, and perhaps some day there will be another who
will be proud of it too. I could hold forth much longer
on his beauty, etc., but must on to another scene, its
match I think you will own.

About three days after, having moved to a more
genial camping ground, I strolled out quietly with
Francis to kill a hind for meat. It was a soft lovely
evening, and I was walking behind Francis, thinking of
the tiger, and you all, with your dear faces at home,
when Mr. F. stopped, and taking out his glass, began to
examine a wild rocky glen, saying as he did so, ' What
that black thing got on rock, Sahib ? ' My binoculars
were up instantly, and with one accord we both sank
into the grass with the one exclamation, f black
tiger ! ' Yes, indeed, there, about a mile off, lying on
a rock, was that rare and lovely animal I had seen so
often in dreamland, the black panther (called by natives
* Tiger '). As I thought of the invaluable trophy that
lay before us, and that there are only four skins in the
world, I felt almost sick with anxiety. This beautiful
beast is only found in the Neilgherries and in some of
the East Indian Islands, and his skin fetches something
miraculous in England. All the power of stalking was
brought into play you may be sure, no trouble was too
much. We marked a rock from which we fancied we
could see the panther, and kill him before he saw us.
After much pains this was gained, and oh ! imagine my

v THE BLACK PANTHER 127

feeling, no panther was to be seen. Thinking I might
see him prowling in the glen, I proceeded to stalk it
forthwith with the most extreme care. Suddenly
Francis started back and pointed above us, and there,
on a rock not 8 yards from us and about 9 feet
above my head, crouched the black panther. As 1
raised the old rifle his ears lay back, his green eyes
twinkled with rage, his beautiful white teeth shone like
diamonds, his glossy back curved, and in one instant he
would have been on us, but it was otherwise decreed.
The deadly ball entered that savage eye and crashed
through his brain. Over he rolled, and oh ! imagine,
for indeed I cannot describe my most inexpressible joy —
oh ! how I looked and looked at him. You can form
no idea of his beauty till you see that most exquisite
skin, glossy black ; but if you hold it to the light you
see the beautiful spots of the panther showing through
it. He was a very large old male, and a most powerful
brute too. It was a ticklish moment that pulling the
trigger, but I did not feel it till all was over. My room
is quite a showroom — I having the black panther, which
no one ever saw, the largest tiger, wild boar, ibex, and
stags' heads in Ootacamund."

LETTER TO HIS COUSIN, CHARLES OKEOVER.
" BLACKWOOD COTTAGE, OOTACAMUND.

Don't expect any apologies, etc., from me for not
writing to the old sportsman before. When I left you,
with your old beard flapping about in the wind, at
Southampton, I fully intended to keep you au fait with
my bad and good luck ; but at first I had so much of
the former, that it would only have sickened me to
write and you to read. The luck turned long ago, and
for the last five months I have had some very good and

128 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

satisfactory sport. In the last few weeks I stalked and
bagged an immense tiger (i I feet 4 inches as he lay ;
cured skin will be over 1 2 feet, which is quite out of
the way), also a black panther. This latter bag was a
good bit of luck, as they are the rarest beasts of the
kind that I know of. There have been only five skins
sent to England from India. If you have seen my
mother's letters you will have an idea of the death of
these two amiable creatures, and so I won't bother you
now. I have now killed specimens of all the different
game of Southern India excepting bears, which animals
I intend to persecute unceasingly till I start for ' Ould
England.' My bag consists of elephants, tigers, panthers,
bison, sambur, spotted deer, wild pig, antelope, muntjac
or barking deer, and wild peacocks ; lots of small game,
such as large gray duck (a kind of goose), common
duck, three varieties of teal, jungle fowl (species of
pheasant), two kinds of quail, hares, three kinds of
snipe (painted, solitary, and common), etc. etc. Alto-
gether I have had decidedly excellent sport, and would
wish myself — were it not for dreams of Africa — no
better fate than to spend another year among the hills
and jungles of Southern India. I have not suffered in
the very least from the climate, at least not directly —
that is to say, not from the heat or sun. But the
constant wet and damp in the rains plays the mischief
with oneself and all the tackle. I am not exactly in
the robust rustic state of health I was in when I left
England ; but considering I have never spared myself in
the very least from wind, sun, or fever, I think I can't
complain ; 1 2 stone 2 Ibs. puts me down now ; 1 3
stone 8 Ibs. could not do so a year ago, but that's
natural enough. I am just back from a grand expedi-
tion into Malabar, the land of elephants. A man in
the i /th Lancers, called Falconer, was with me. We

ELEPHANTS 129

had the most desperate weather, — pelting rain and the
thermometer I oo degrees ! A hut to live in which
gloried in a most blackguard roof, and uncommon bad
grub, and little enough of it, were the drawbacks. The
' t'other ' affairs I intend bothering you with now, the
chief of which was one of the grandest day's elephant-
shooting a man can wish for. We marched straight
through the Wynand Forest into Malabar, a distance of
60 miles from here. The difficulties we had with
swollen rivers, two of which we had to bridge, nearly
drove us back once or twice, but thoughts of the sport
we might expect made us stick like leeches to our
object. The march down took us so much longer than
we expected, that we found we had only six days to
shoot, Falconer being tied to leave. In that time we
bagged —

FALCONER. SELF.

2 Elephants 5 Elephants
I Wild sow 2 Bison

3 Spotted deer I Boar

(2 of them bucks) 5 Spotted deer
I Sambur (a hind) (4 of them bucks)

4 Sambur (2 stags)

7 head 17 head

A capital bag in the time as things go. One of my
bison l was a magnificent old bull, and stood 6 feet 8
inches at the hump. His rugged old head will look well
when hanging in the old shop. The other was a cow ;
she died game to the last — six hardened balls in her,
not one farther than a foot behind the shoulder. But
the great day of all was the 3rd of July 1863. Five

1 Sir Douglas Brooke informs me that he remembers his father saying
that this big bison had evidently just been defeated in a sanguinary en-
counter with a younger bull, as he was frightfully cut and scored about.

130 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

elephants down in three hours — all before breakfast. It
certainly was a grand bit of sport, old boy ; and I intend
to tell you the whole thing from the break till I ran
into the last elephant. My battery that day consisted of
— my old Purdey (2-grooved) rifle (a splendid ' weepon '),
carries 7 to the pound conical ; smooth-bore Lancaster,

8 -bore ; and a poly-grooved rifle by , a

1 3 -bore, a most unworthy gun, and has nearly been
the cooking of my goose twice — once with a panther
long ago, the second time was on this occasion. All
of these are double-barrelled of course; a single I
consider most useless with dangerous game. With the
2-grooved Purdey I have killed all my big game, with
a trifling exception or two. It is a grand fine rifle,
and will, I hope, be my mainstay should I ever get as
far as Africa. The balls are blunt - topped. They
combine in a quite sufficient degree the force of
the common conical and the smashing power of the
spherical bullets. Hold him straight and he will do
the rest. And now, I think, you will understand me
without many interruptions.

$rd of July. — Started before dawn in the midst of a
downpour of rain. A fellow gets accustomed to this
after a week, but not so his guns. In this kind of
weather they are the greatest bugbear a man has to
contend against. A miss-fire in the case of a wounded
tiger or elephant may cost you your life ; and still, with
the utmost care, it is impossible to guard for certain
against it. The truth of this was forced upon me in a
most vivid and uncomfortable manner this very day.
My shikaree carried Moore's rifle ; Wild Panea, or
jungle man, carrying Purdey ; two Koorimbers — one
carrying Lancaster smooth-bore, the other grub, etc.
Spotted deer and pig went whistling and grunting away
on all sides of us, as we splashed through the flooded

WARM SPOOR 131

swamps, and tore through the dripping, matted jungle
in the dull gray morning light. By the time it was
light enough to shoot, we were close to the ground on
which we expected to find signs of elephants, so I had
to content myself with covering many of these smaller
fry with a gun enveloped in soaking holsters, as they
stood staring at me in a way the beasts take good care
never to do when one is looking for them. About
7.30, as we were striding along an old elephant road,
the Panea, who was leading, suddenly turned at right
angles to the way we were going, and without saying a
word set off with long strides. In a second I found I
was on the warm spoor of elephants. Charley, old man,
it's a grand thing to find oneself going well in the first
flight across dear old Northamptonshire ; it is perfect
bliss. But if there is one thing ' more perfecter,' it is
to find oneself silently creeping in the mighty tracks of a
herd of thirteen elephants. Oh, Charles, my dear old
pippin, it makes one feel too big to live ! If I go into
one's feeling under such circumstances I shall get so
excited I won't be able to finish this epistle, so imagine
them if you can, for I won't attempt to express them.
The rain had been coming down in bucketfuls, and had
been all the morning, so getting under some shelter I
examined, primed, and put fresh caps on all my guns.
After this was completed, we set off in good earnest on
the track. At first it led us through thick jungle in a
straight line, too straight to please me. It was evident
they were travelling, and it might take us hours to
catch them ; and bivouacking out under a clump of
bamboos in jungles below the level of the sea, in soak-
ing clothes and steady rain all night, is a kind of
amusement not to be indulged in too freely. Once out
of this thick fid of jungle, appearances were more pleas-
ing, the track zigzagged here and there. This was the

K

132 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

place the interesting party had dined. Here and there
great branches of trees lay about untouched ; they had
been pulled down merely for fun. We did not tarry
long here, but getting well on the spoor again, went
away without a check for about 4 miles. The
country was terribly strong, and many was the heavy
pip we got amongst thorns and creepers. To add to
these variations, alderman leeches feasted sumptuously
on one's legs, hands, and neck. About ten the signs
got so fresh that, despite one's efforts to the contrary,
one's waistcoat would go thump, pit-a-pat, thump, etc.
The excitement of the jungle man was something
wonderful ; the jolly beggar shook all over, and the
perspiration flowed in streams from his hitherto dry,
calm, ugly countenance. Giving me Purdey, he took
Lancaster himself, and without the faintest noise crept
quickly forward. I followed piping hot, torn like the
mischief, soaked to the skin. Every button off my
gaiters, my boots unlaced, and the laces gone. These
things are annoying when one may be bolting for one's
life in the course of the next half-hour. However, all's
well that ends well. A sharp crack to our right made
me hop, and the next instant my eyes rested on the
huge brown, muddy back of an elephant. She was
about 50 yards off and below us. Without waiting to
look longer, we stalked slowly and carefully down to
the herd. They were all feeding quietly, walking in
Indian file. A huge teak tree offered good shelter. It
was within 20 yards of the elephants. I pointed it
out to the Panea ; he nodded, and to it we crept.
There I was, though I could barely realise it, bang in
the middle of thirteen huge elephants, the farthest not
being 40 yards off, the nearest about 8 or 10. Look-
ing them carefully over, I was disgusted to find they
were all females, but going on the principle of ' half a

v IN THE MIDST OF THEM 133

loaf,' etc. etc., I made my plans as fast as possible, and
prepared for a row. A huge old cow was the nearest
to me, and after inspection I pronounced the sentence
of death upon her. Getting, as I fancied, the angle for
her brain, I let fly. Down she came on her knees, with
her head rammed into a lot of bamboos. Such a
trumpeting, shrieking, and thundering then ensued.
Thinking No. I was defunct, I let fly with second
barrel at the back of the ear of another as she went
crashing away. Down she came too slap on her head.
At this report up got No. I, to my disgust, and made
a clean bolt of it, upsetting everything that came in her
way. Seizing my Lancaster, I was just giving chase
when I ran bolt up against No. 2, which lady was again
on her legs, though uncommon groggy. Her back
being to me, she did not charge, but went smash into
an awful clump of creepers, bamboos, and every ' invin-
tion of the divil ' for holding a poor body. There she
stuck. I followed and stood within 3 yards of her
great brown quarters. To get round her was impossible ;
she would have annihilated me entirely. Seeing she
would neither go on nor charge (mind at that time I did
not know what a charge from a wounded elephant was
like, or I would have looked twice before I stood where
I did), I crept round, and poking my noddle into the
clump tried for a side shot. At last I got sight of her
eye and ear. Judging where the orifice of the latter
was, I fired, a heavy crash followed, and I had the
satisfaction of seeing a great leg stuck up in the air.
* Toes up ' at last, thought I. Devil a bit, thought her
ladyship. More struggling, a loud crack or two, a
dreadful blast, a huge back rose above the trees, and
instead of over me by way of a change, past me rushed
the elephant. This takes a minute to scribble, but a
few seconds in reality saw me standing feeling small,

134 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

with the distant crack of a bamboo, as the herd made
straight away, being the only thing to convince me
I had not been dreaming. I could not but think I had
made a muff of myself, and still I had held his head
straight, and sat still. In plain words, I had not been
more excited than I think was natural. The truth
is, I little knew what accurate shooting it takes to bag
elephants with one ball. Loading Purdey and Lan-
caster as fast as possible, we got on the track of the
last elephant, and running as hard as we could go, the
Panea and self, followed by the others at a respectful
distance. On we went on the great broad track. The
heat at this pace was suffocating. After running a
quarter of a mile, even in the hard condition I am now
in, made one feel done to a turn. Not so the jungle
man ; on he went, as if he was merely walking in the
coolest atmosphere. It was killing work, especially as
I thought I had thrown away such a chance. On we
struggled through thorns, swamps, and long reeds, up
hills and down them, and still no signs of the grand
great game. Disgusted, we were just going to cry,
* Hold, enough,' when a crash before us, and the back
of an elephant, made us fresh as paint. Perfectly
determined to do the trick this time, I glided before
the Panea, and beckoning him to follow, made quietly
and quickly off in a semicircle, so as to front the
animals, and force them to give me a deadly shot. It
paid well. I passed them, got before them, and keep-
ing well hid, stood a little to one side and waited.
Crash, crackle ! down went a bamboo, and straight up
to me strode, to my delight, the cow second wounded,
and followed by another. They had left the herd.
The wind was perfect ; no fear on that score. Silently
the two monsters passed me, the head of old Purdey
straight shining on the wounded one's head. Not

TWO DOWN 135

feeling confident, I refused the temple shot as she
approached, the ear shot as she was level with me, but
taking most exact angle for the brain, I let fly for the
back of the ear shot. All was perfect this time ; with
one shrill trumpet she rolled over on her side, and
was dead immediately. I was not quick enough for
the second. She turned so sharp and made off, leaving
nothing but her quarters to fire at. Up I jumped on
the dead elephant ; I did not fancy myself at all such
a bad fellow at that moment. After examining her
for a moment or so, I determined to send for her tusks
(pegs properly called), which were unusually perfect for
a cow, the next day, and to spend the remaining part of
the day looking for bison ; it was about 10.30 o'clock.
Making off back on the tracks of the dead elephant,
we had not gone 200 yards when straight before me,
passing at right angles, I saw the backs of a line of
elephants (it was the same herd ; I had headed them
in following the wounded one quite unintentionally).
With Purdey in my hand I took three or four steps
forward to a tree. The elephants strode on unconsci-
ously. Running my eye along the line, I fixed on the
leader, and judging the angle with care, dropped her
stone dead in her tracks with a ball in the orifice of the
ear. At the downfall of their general the whole herd
broke into confusion, and rushed back with shrill
trumpeting the way they had come ; but I was too
quick for them this time. As they turned, with the
second barrel I rolled over a great cow as she was
making off at full speed, with the shot at the back of
the ear. A most extraordinary scene ensued. This
second elephant was dropped on a very great slant, and
away she went rolling down the hill. Everything gave
way before her awful weight. A great tall skinny tree,
about 1 6 inches diameter, was mowed down like grass.

136 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

As she got near the bottom, she gathered fearful velocity,
and with an awful crash she went bang into a great
black tangled mass of creepers, at the bottom of which
she stuck, toes up. Seeing this, I took Lancaster and
ran as hard as I could after the other elephants. As
the Panea gave me the gun he pointed to one barrel,
and to my disgust I found in a fall he had stuffed it
cram full of mud. There was no time to alter it, so
making shift with the one I cut along after the others,
which, as this all happened like greased lightning, were
not yet out of sight. I soon found myself among them
much too close for safety, so taking a rather uncertain
shot I dropped the last of the fugitives with a pill
behind the left listener. Seeing she was not dead, and
having no more means, I turned and cut back along
the fresh-made road for another gun. I nearly knocked
my men over as they came racing after me round a
bamboo. Loaded Purdey as fast as possible, also
Lancaster's barrel, and was told by my shikaree that
one barrel of Moore was useless, as one of the locks
was gone. Pleasant, but ten months' hard work in
these heavy jungles tells, and must invariably tell, on
the guns of the most careful sportsman. Purdey still
stuck to me, but I found I had only three balls left
for her. ' It's enough,' thought I ; ' we'll never catch
them again surely ! ' The tackle being put to rights,
we again set off, and had not gone far when we heard
a crash to the left in the bamboos above us. This was
the last elephant, which had got up again, as I expected.
Getting on the track, we crept cautiously up to her.
The jungle was fearfully thick ; I could not see 3 yards
before me. At last a little crackle very close made
me aware of my position. This was unenviable (so
thought my men, who bolted quietly, leaving my guns
close to me) ; the brute was listening to make out my

v AN ELEPHANT-CHARGE 137

locality. This was evident by the dead silence after
the little noise which luckily attracted my attention.
Straining every nerve, I at length heard her drawing
in wind, and moving my head slightly I could just
make out the indistinct outline of her head. Fancying
I had the correct angle, I let fly, and down she sank
with an awful yell. Before she fairly reached the
ground she was up, and with the same fearful thunder-
ing trumpet the beggar made bang at me. Bamboos
that would hold a dray horse went like grass before
her. She had only 8 yards or so to come. It was
ticklish, seeing I could not kill her. I whipped up
Lancaster, and took two huge strides through the
beastly thick stuff to the right, and then squatted like
a hare. This was my best, indeed, as far as I can see,
only chance. The brute charged right up to the very
spot I fired from, and there, not 4 yards from me, and
offering no chance of killing her, she pulled up and
began to feel and sniff about with her trunk. I did
not like it one bit, to tell the truth, and mighty relieved
was I when I saw her steal off like a tiger. Waiting
quiet a second, I fancied the coast was clear, and was
sneaking off, not liking to carry on the attack from
below any longer, when to my disgust I heard a trumpet
and a crash, and the blackguard charged close up to
me again ; but so thick was the stuff I could not see a
sign of her, though I knew she was within 3 or 4 yards
of me. Down I squatted, and presently away she
sneaked again. The wind stood my firm friend on
both these unpleasant occasions. Cautiously creeping
away, I found all my men at a most safe distance, all
fancying I was nobbled. Describing a circuit to wind-
ward, I made for the top of the hill, which was clear,
comparatively speaking, a giant teak tree here and
there making a perfect place to nobble an elephant in.

138 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

Keeping a sharp eye on the bamboos below, as I still
fancied my friend was there, I examined the edge all
along to see if she had gone out at the top. To my
disgust I found she had ; but I had barely found the
track when I heard a crash in the jungle below me, and
there I saw two elephants sneaking their way quietly and
easily through the matted mass of bamboo. They kept
a line parallel to me as I dodged from tree to tree along
the brow. As I calculated when they came to the
place where the other had charged me, they bore up
the hill towards me, and a little farther on, with a lot
of creepers round the head, out strode a magnificent
elephant. She was about 1 5 yards off, and waiting
for the angle I dropped her dead as an egg in her
tracks. Before I had pulled the other came charging
out, having winded me, I expect. I took her coolly,
and laid her side by side with her friend and com-
panion. It was a nice double shot, Charley, old boy,
and I now felt fully 7 feet high in my stockings at that
moment. The rest of the herd had made clean off,
two of them, poor beggars, with a headache, I fear. I
now returned to examine the two others, and to my
surprise and disgust found that the one that had the
awful tumble was nowhere to be seen. Presently, on
peering about, we saw her standing, looking most un-
comfortable, under a bamboo. This was awkward. I
had, so to speak, only two single barrels to kill her
with, and after the heavy charge in the thick bamboo I
dared not trust the men. There was no choice, how-
ever, so down I went, gingerly enough, it must be owned.
Before I was near her she heard and smelt me, and
stalked sulkily off towards a swamp. Being anxious
to silence her before she got into such dangerous ground,
I ran quickly after her. She heard me as I approached,
and pulled up in the most determined manner, and

v A NARROW SQUEAK 139

waited to charge. Before she could do this I knocked
her flat on her side with the one barrel of Lancaster.
Not dead yet ! Seeing her struggling violently, and
knowing she would be on her legs in a moment, I ran
back to the Panea (who stood behind a tree at a safe
distance), got Moore, ran back, and stood about 5
yards from and straight before the struggling elephant.
It took her a long time to get up. She never gave me
a good certain chance until she was full on her legs.
The minute she got up she began to come slowly
towards me, the very Old Harry twinkling in her eye.
I took aim as if firing for ;£iooo. The only result
was the snap of the cap and a fiz-z-z ! Before I could
say ' knife ' she rolled up her trunk, gave one yell, and
was almost on me before I could turn. I twisted like
anything, and cut for my life. Deerfoot is a child to
me on occasions like this ; but as fate would have it,
the third stride I took brought me straight at the
branchy part of a fallen tree. I rammed the spurs in,
and thought of the old jumps at Harrow, but it was
•too much out of the swampy ground. I lit right in
the middle of it, and the rifle was twirled out of my
hand. Another awful yell in my very ears, accom-
panied with the crash of the branches close behind me,
gave me for a second that horrid feel, ' Begad, it's all
UP at last ! ' With a frantic kick I sent myself sprawl-
ing on my head free of the tree, scrambled anyhow and
everyhow to the nearest tree. It was a very narrow
squeak, Charley, old man, and served me right. I was
getting too confident. I was all right now ; she had
pulled up, and was standing in the middle of the tree,
just where I stuck, and was apparently contemplating
the mechanism of my Moore rifle. Leaving her, I crept
off, reloaded Lancaster, and dropped her dead. Thus
died the five. Please send this epistle to my mother.

140 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

It will interest them, and I have not had time to write
this mail. I am in the midst of bullets, bullet-moulds,
powder-flasks, and greased wadding, in preparation for
a start to-day for more elephants.

Henry 1 might care to wade through this."

THE MONSTER TUSKER

At daylight we (Colonel Hamilton and myself)
were called by Francis, and after seeing that we had
all the necessary ammunition, etc., with us, away we
started for the valley that lay to the east of the little
bungalow. It was a damp, muggy morning, and as
we stopped among the bamboos at the entrance of the
valley, the sun was just struggling up among the dark
rugged hills at our backs. A few birds had just begun
to chirp about us, and every now and again the mourn-
ful howl of an old jackal, going home after his midnight
rambles, was the only sound that broke the almost
painful silence that reigned around us. Notwith-
standing, however, it was a glorious morning for the
work ; the air, though oppressive and heavy, was much
better than what we had been living in for the last few
days, and the ease with which we got over the ground
was very delightful. Bamboos of a rough and rather
poor description, with mixed thorny underwood, was
the general character of the jungle. Elephant tracks
went zigzagging in all directions — some large, some
small, some old, and some fresh. Branches torn down
and lying carelessly strewn about tripped us up in the
dusky light. I know nothing that gives one such a
feeling of being in reality amongst the wildest of
nature's haunts as following close in the wake of a

1 The late Brigadier-General Henry Brooke, killed at Kandahar, a
first cousin of Sir Victor's.

THE MONSTER TUSKER 141

herd of elephants. Everything to right and left bears
the mark of their ponderous weight and strength, and
inspires me with a feeling of decided respect for the
noble game. Until it got a little lighter it was terrible
walking. Every now and then one of us would trip
up in one of the mighty tracks and go spluttering
forwards in a terrible effort of self-preservation which
ended in an uncomfortable damp roll in the muddy
spoor.

About seven o'clock we came on the tracks of bears
in among some rough, low hills, covered with small
gray rocks that rose every here and there in the jungle.
But Bruin was quite safe ; we were bent on far higher
and better game. No sight of an elephant as yet,
though the tracks and other signals of their not having
long passed over the very same ground we were
standing on were numerous enough. It was intensely
exciting work ; at any moment our tired hot eyes might
be greeted with the sight of a long piece of that shining
ivory, that trophy which I had yet to win to complete
my collection. Oh, how anxiously I peered ahead, as
I crawled cautiously on, keeping steady to one tre-
mendous track. Hamilton, with Francis close behind
him, was a little to my left and about 10 yards
behind me, he having most generously given me the
first chance.

This kind of work went on for about an hour, and
I was, to tell the truth, beginning to get a little careless,
when I was suddenly brought to a standstill by finding
myself within 10 yards of the tail of an elephant. I
squatted instantly, and made a little chirping noise that
attracted Hamilton's attention. He squatted too, and
made the men behind do the same. When all was
still, I stretched behind me and had my second gun
pushed into my hand by the native whom I had

142 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

picked out to follow me. Cocking all four barrels of
the two guns, I crawled most carefully round until I
could see the old gentleman's head. To my delight I
saw two tusks of very fair size. A " tusker " at last,
I thought to myself. He was standing perfectly
unsuspicious of danger, rocking his head backwards
and forwards, and twisting a bit of bamboo about in
his trunk. The grass was about 3 feet high and
of a horridly binding nature, so much so that I did
not like the position I found myself in one bit. I was
too close to him, but if I went any farther back the
bushes would hide him from me, as he was standing
in a small open (or glade) in the forest ; and I was too
far behind him to make certain of hitting him from
where I stood. I moved inch by inch farther and
farther forward until I could see the glitter of his
wicked little eye. Crack ! went a small branch ; he
became perfectly motionless, both his ears cocked, and
his whole attitude betokening intense attention. I saw
that to move more round was impossible, so sliding
down one gun until it was propped up against my leg,
I covered the back of the ear carefully with the old rifle
and fired. Before the smoke was clear enough for me
to see, I heard a terrible screech and a crash, the report
of a rifle, and shouts from Hamilton. "He's off! run,
Brooke ! " Away went the old fellow bundling along
like a steam-engine ; just as he was nearly out of sight
Hamilton fired, and as nearly as possible knocked him
off his legs ; but it was too far, and recovering himself
completely, he dashed through a huge bamboo clump,
and the next moment he was out of sight. Away I
ran after him as hard as my legs could carry me,
tumbling over fallen trees, and scratching myself to
bits with huge thorns that took nice little pieces out of
me as I tore along in my impetuous chase. But run

v THE MONSTER TUSKER 143

as I might I never was doomed to see him again, and
was forced, after running half a mile or so, to retrace
my steps crestfallen and disgusted. We had a most
weary walk home, the sun coming out and broiling us
long before we got to the bungalow. After breakfast
I rolled myself up in a coil in my old camp bed and
lay chewing the cud of vexation and disappointment.
I had passed about an hour in this unenviable state of
mind, and was just beginning to comfort myself with
inward vows against the next bull elephant I might
meet with, when one of the servants came up to say
that a native had seen three elephants, one a young
bull, in an open in the forest about 4 miles from the
camp. This was indeed good news, if true ; in less
time than it takes to write it, we had thrown on our
clothes and started. We had not gone a mile when we
came upon a small tank, the banks of which were
literally flattened down with the tracks of evidently an
immense elephant. Encouraged by this, though the
marks were all three or four days old, we strode on, led
by the native who had brought the news. The forest
was entirely different to the one we had been in in the
morning. It consisted entirely of a shrub of the most
thorny and malignant nature possible to be conceived.
If we went near a bush it would manage to catch and
entangle us in a manner that required great self-control
to effect a liberation without the sacrifice of half one's
garments. However, it's a long lane that's got no
turning, and after about a mile of this uncomfortable
and provoking style of country, we found ourselves
winding along the tops of a low range of hills, on the
summit of which the jungle only grew in small thick
clumps. It was terribly hot, and the sun burned away
immediately above our heads.

As we approached the valley where our dusky friend

144 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

reported having seen the elephants, we pulled up and
looked well to all the rifles. Fresh caps having been
introduced, and spare bullets carefully packed in my
waistcoat pocket, ready to hand in case of necessity,
the only point remaining to be settled was who was to
begin, and have the pick of the elephants. Hamilton
had the most just right of choice, but true to his old
colours he would not hear of it. I must do the work
and he would help ; nothing but this arrangement would
satisfy him. We were still standing in the place we
had halted for these preparations, when a loud crack
caused us all to look anxiously into the valley below
us. The crack was quickly followed by several others,
and then the most unearthly trumpeting and bellowing
commenced. The whole valley that lay stretched at
our feet like an immense amphitheatre seemed positively
living. Every glade was studded with elephants, and
every thicket was heaving and swaying. Some were
large, some were small, but no matter what was
the size, every individual seemed to be doing his
utmost to make as much commotion as was possible.
That some general intention actuated the troop was
soon apparent. Though at first sight one would have
thought these gigantic creatures were tumbling about
for mere sport, we soon saw that they were banding
together, probably summoned by some old veteran
guardian of the herd. As soon as I recovered the first
astonishment and wonder caused by this glorious sight,
I perceived that by keeping along the side of the hill
from which we had been viewing the elephants, we
could get much nearer. So, clutching my favourite old
rifle, away I went at a long jot trot, followed by the
others.

Meantime the noise in the valley to our right had
somewhat subsided, and a general consultation seemed

v A GLORIOUS TUSK 145

to be going on. Presently I heard the native behind
me mumbling something that betokened astonishment,
and looking in the direction of his eye I saw a sight I
shall never forget. Led by a noble old bull elephant,
the herd were marching straight off towards the east,
in Indian file. On went the noble crowd like a mighty
river ; tuskers of different sizes strode along mixed
amongst the smaller ones of the herd, and by the calm,
dignified gait seemed fully impressed with their own
importance. The young ones of the herd, some of
which were scarcely bigger than a large pig, bundled
about amongst the legs of their elders in the most
impertinent manner, greatly to the inconvenience of
these grave-looking personages.

At last, when the foremost elephant was fully half a
mile off, the great regiment seemed to have come to an
end ; and as we were making up our minds how to
follow them, there hove in sight that which caused us
all to stand rooted to the ground with astonishment.
An immense old monster — the hero of perhaps a
hundred summers, the monarch of many a thousand
miles of forest, an elephant so terrible in size that I
really half began to think I was dreaming — stepped into
view. Quietly the old patriarch followed his com-
panions, most of them probably his children. The
elephant himself was wonderful in size, but what struck
us all instantly was his glorious tusk. Oh, how I
did covet that tusk ! and I vowed that, come what
may, I would not stop till I possessed it. The end
was hidden by the grass as he walked along ; but from
what we could see, Hamilton, who had seen not a few,
declared no such tusk as this old monster carried had
ever during his time gone from India. Scarcely
stopping a minute to look at him, I set off down the
hill towards him. He was about a quarter of a mile

146 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

off, and going very leisurely, and my heart throbbed
till I thought it would break itself, as visions of the
grand old fellow dead floated through my brain.
After much more difficulty than we anticipated we got
to the bottom of the hill, the foot of which was a
chaotic mass of huge rocks lying in fantastic attitudes
one upon the other. Once past these, however, all
was simple enough, and away I set as hard as I could
run. My object was to hit off the track and follow it
up till I came up, if luck should favour me, with the
old bull. With little or no difficulty I crossed into the
spoor, and then away I ran after the herd as hard as I
could go. After a quarter of a mile was gone over,
and I was beginning to wonder at the pace they hajd
gone at, on turning a clump of bamboos, I, to my
amazement, found myself almost in the middle of the
elephants. Stopping short, I wheeled round out of
sight before I was discovered, and crouching in the
short grass waited till the others came to me. I
pointed out the direction of the great part of the herd
to Hamilton, and we then discussed how to get at
them. Cautiously peering through the bush, we made
out the monster, standing with his broadside to us,
about 50 yards off. They were all in the middle of
a large glade, with one or two trees and a few bushes
scattered through it. One tree was about 10 yards
behind the big bull, and this was the best point we
could make for. The wind was very favourable. I
went first on my hands and knees with the " ould
weepon " on full cock in my hand. Keeping as low as
I could in the white grass, I eeled myself along in true
deer-stalking fashion. The others followed in similar
attitudes. We had about 20 yards to crawl before
we found ourselves undiscovered and behind the tree.
It was a rather peculiar position, and one that a man

v GETTING UP TO HIM 147

does not forget in a hurry. Great, grave - looking
elephants were seen in every direction, and straight
before me, not 12 yards off, stood, I suppose I may
safely say, one of the largest animals in the world !
" He's only got one tusk ! " whispered old Hamilton
over my shoulder. This was the case sure enough, but
what a tusk that single one was ! White, smooth, and
massive ; it was an object that any sportsman might well
look at with a watering mouth and a trembling hand.
There was no time for extravagant deliberation : a
cunning, wise old cow was looking straight in our
direction, and looked to me uncommonly inclined to
be disagreeable, so motioning to Hamilton I was about
to commence hostilities, I clutched the old steel tight
and crawled towards, and a little to the left of, the old
elephant. I should have mentioned before that the
old fellow's quarters were turned to the tree, conse-
quently, in order to get a correct shot at the head, I
should have to get well round to his left somehow or
other. On his right, as I have before mentioned, were
his wives and children. There was not a bush the size
of a hat to cover me, and I had to get down low in
the grass and creep along as best I could. It was
rather nervous work I must own ; every second I
expected to be discovered, and in the confusion it
would have been difficult to escape, to say nothing of
the probabilities of a deliberate charge, which my
friend the old cow seemed meditating seriously. But
that tusk I was determined to possess, and so putting
all thoughts about " chance " and " probability " in my
pocket, I shrunk into as small a space as possible and
gave my whole mind to the stalk.

As soon as I was far enough round, I rose suddenly
from the grass, and I really believe the first thing that
gave the elephants alarm was the report of old Purdey,

L

148 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

as he sent his deadly messenger with a crash into the
" monster's " head. It was a sore blow, but the poor
old fellow bore it gallantly.

Swinging round with a quickness that would con-
siderably surprise the fine fellows that talk about the
clumsiness of an elephant, he was making off after the
others, who were roaring, smashing, trumpeting, as they
jostled each other in their headlong flight. But it was
not to be. My second barrel fired at the moment he
turned nearly sent him down, but he recovered again.
I seized my second gun, which was only a Westley
Richards smooth-bore shot-gun loaded with ball. As
I did so, Hamilton fired all his barrels at the old
fellow's head ; he staggered and fell on to his tusk,
recovered, came a short way towards us, his small eye
gleaming with rage and fury. Running up to within
8 yards of him, I fired both barrels bang in his
face; but it only seemed to revive him; for twisting his
tail up over his back he rushed off, upsetting bamboos
and large clumps of thorny thickets, screeching and
trumpeting with blasts that shook the whole place.
Poor old Hamilton was so horrified at his apparent
escape, that he ran after him, bursting through thorns
and all impediments with a fury nearly as terrible as
that of the elephant himself. With a trembling hand
and an aching heart I loaded as fast as I could and
then ran after Hamilton. I came upon him standing
in an old dry nullah, down which the wounded elephant
had gone, looking pale and thoroughly disgusted.
" We must follow till we get him ! " said I to him.
He only shook his head. " We'll do our best ! " said
the dear old fellow ; " but I am afraid he's lost ! " As
soon as Hamilton was loaded away I went down the
track. After a bit it led out of the nullah up an
awful bank, and then for some time away along through

IN FULL PURSUIT 149

a beautiful series of glades. Large drops of blood gave
me hopes that the poor beast would be obliged to stop
before long. On we went, plodding through swamps
and jungles, with eyes fixed on the ground. At times
I looked back and found myself quite alone, but, just
as I fancied, H. had found the pace too quick ; I would
see him appear at the far end of a glade, coming along
with that steady perseverance that I had marvelled at
many and many a time. Upon one occasion I looked
back just in time to see him shaking his fist at me, as
he lay in a recumbent position, a nice little creeper
having upset him in a most uncomfortable manner.
Once or twice the track led to the banks of a sluggish,
dirty river. At these places I expected to see him
every minute, but not so ; he had thought better and
turned off in another direction. At last, after following
the tracks down a nullah, the sand up to my ankles,
I stopped to consult with Hamilton ; we measured the
tracks. No time was to be lost, and from the constant
bleeding, I think Hamilton began to think affairs
looked better. So away we went again. Every now
and then I found myself so far ahead that I thought
it imprudent to go alone, so had to pull up and wait.
The spoor led on through much the same kind of
forest that we had found there in the morning ; but I
began to notice a change in the movements of the
elephant ; instead of keeping clear of all thickets as he
had hitherto done, he now seemed to have meditated
stopping in each thicket, and had gone through it as if
for the purpose of examining its size and thickness.
Most cautiously, with cocked barrels and a light step,
I passed through each of these thickets, half fearing a
charge. I had just emerged from one of these, through
which, from the nature of the tracks, I could see the
elephant had walked slowly, when I was, to my delight,

ISO SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

joined by the native who had followed me in the
morning. The poor old bull was evidently getting
weak ; he had walked in a staggering way down a
grassy hill, at the bottom of which lay a thicket larger
and more dense than any we had yet passed. A
strange feeling seemed to tell me that I was near him
at last. Silently but quickly we entered this thicket.
The track crossed and recrossed itself, so we separated,
the native going one way and I the other. I was
peering about, having, as I thought, searched every-
where, with my whole being on the alert, when I heard
a little hiss, and looking over my shoulder, saw my
native friend, his face in a beam of excitement,
beckoning and gesticulating furiously. On going to
him he pointed before him, and instead of an elephant,
what should I see but Hamilton leaning against a tree,
white and breathless with running, but I could see by
his face that he had seen something. I crept to him,
and pointing before him into a hollow where the jungle
was not very thick, he said, " There is the old fellow ! "
I will not hold forth upon this ; it speaks for itself.
One of the best sportsmen in India within 20
yards of such an elephant, and because I had worked
so hard, as he says, but I believe from pure generosity,
he would not fire at him. He was a little too far, but
it was dangerous to go much closer, as he looked as if
he had heard us already. His whole broadside was
exposed to us, but his head was the part I could see
best. Quietly and steadily I covered his head, about
the region of the ear, and fired ! At the report there
was a low muffled groan and a terrible crash, and
instead of the elephant's back and head, two huge legs
stuck up in the air. We rushed down together, and I
have a dim recollection of Hamilton hugging me. But
the work was not done yet ; he was very nearly up

AT LAST 151

again, but the second barrel of the old gun sent him
to that bourne from which he never will return. My
feelings cannot be described, so I won't attempt to.
Suffice it to say that it was sunset when he died, and
it had been mid-day when we first saw him ; though I
was bootless, hungry, and had 7 or 8 miles to walk home,
I had accomplished that which made the journey light
and the way easy.

The tusk of this elephant was 8 feet long and
weighed 90 Ibs., 17 inches in circumference at the
thickest part; the broken tusk weighed 53 Ibs.

NEILGHERRY HILLS,
26 th August.

(Since the last sheet we have arrived here and are
revelling in the clear cool air.)

If I go on disgressing in this manner, we shall never
get to the bears, so here we go at once : —

Just as I was creeping cautiously through a thorny
clump, I spied a great black bear sitting down scratch-
ing himself with evident pleasure and satisfaction.
Instantly I squatted behind a low bush to wait for a
good chance, as I did I caught sight of two more bears
quite close to me. I think you could have put the
four of us into the dining-room at C. B., so close were
we together. Well, three bears when a man has only
two barrels is rather heavy odds, but I was determined
to have one of their coats anyway. The bears fed
away in the most quiet and gentlemanly manner con-
ceivable, and I sat coiled up in a bush watching them
like a tiger. One I saw was an immense bear — I have
never seen but one as large — and upon her (for it was a
lady) I fixed my eye. She was the nearest to me and
was busily engaged in searching for " cunning grub "
that gave her much trouble and uneasiness of mind.

152 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

It was some time before a shot offered itself that I
considered deadly, and I would not fire till I was quite
sure. My very life might depend upon the shot, as, should
I only wound her, I was so close that I could not hope
to escape detection, in which case the three bears would
have been on me, or two anyway, as one would have
surely paid his last toll if he came too close to the
deadly old rifle. I mention this to show you what a
master of woodcraft a man may become who gives his
whole energies to the work. It's like playing chess for
heavy stakes. Patience and coolness were at last
rewarded — the bear exposed my favourite spot. The
old gun was up like a shot and the bear sank motion-
less in the sand. She was not quite dead, and began
to roar at me whom she now saw. I never saw so
savage a head and face. As I calculated, the two
others immediately rushed at her — all three roaring,
growling, and screaming in the most extravagant and
ridiculous manner. To have parted with my last
barrel would have been madness, so it was at this
moment when all three were mixed together in a huge
black bundle, that I had decided upon for slipping
away ; this I managed well and got to a safe distance,
when I reloaded as fast as possible and then returned
to my friends, nothing fearing now that I had pills for
each of them. I found the big old lady bear stone
dead, and just as I was going to examine my prize I
heard a savage snort behind me. It was one of the
other bears. Seeing I would not run from him, he
settled the knotty point by doing the running himself,
and this without exposing a deadly shot. After him I
ran as hard as I could lay my legs to the ground, and
so fiercely did I go to work that I literally chased him
like a dog ; but I could not get a fatal shot, and eventu-
ally lost him in the thorny underwood. Number three

BEAR-SHOOTING 153

I never saw again ; he wisely had mizzled quietly.
Scratched and torn I returned and set to work to skin
the bear, no joke now that the sun was up. In about
an hour and a half I had that skin off, and throwing it
round my neck and over my shoulders like a great lady's
boa (a nice bore I found it) I trudged off to camp. Ye
gods ! the heat ! it was perfectly unbearable ; I need
not hold forth on it. Thermometer over 100 degrees
and a bearskin for a necktie. IC Come what come may,
Time and the hour runs through the roughest day."
Accordingly I did get to camp but in a semi-live con-
dition. The very next morning I was again alone, and
as good luck would have it, came plump on the two
other bears. I killed one dead, and the other came
straight at me. I knocked him head over heels for
his impudence, but the shot was too hurried to be cer-
tain, and though desperately wounded he escaped. I
skinned the other bear, and catching a wild man made
him carry it to the camp for me. Curious creatures
these wild men are ; they live in trees and evince the
utmost terror at the presence of a white man. Small,
squalid, and dirty, they resemble monkeys more than
men. A few days afterwards I rolled over a very
large bear going at full speed, just like a hare. I have
kept some of their grease.

Writing to his mother on iQth September 1863, he
alludes to the close of his sporting expedition and his
plans for the remaining three months that he intended
to spend in India. His original intention and the
natural wish of his relatives, was for him to return to
England in time for his coming of age in January ; but
he felt very strongly that if he left India without seeing
the most celebrated portions of it, he should always
regret it in after life. He says : —

To leave India as a mere sportsman with only a

154 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

confused idea of matters of really intrinsic worth-
confused only because I have sacrificed the time
sufficient to arrange and develop them — I should lose
that which I can never regain.
During all the spare time at his disposal in intervals of
sport, he had studied the life and character of the
people around him and read Indian history very
closely, further stimulated no doubt by having come
across an old schoolfellow, the present Sir George Otto
Trevelyan, whom he speaks of as having been head of
the school at Harrow. Trevelyan stayed with him at
his shooting hut, and afterwards they were together at
Madras, and in the light of subsequent events the
following extract is of much interest : —

Trevelyan got two sambur when with me. He was
delighted with the scenery, and I must say he worked
like a Trojan. He is one of the nicest fellows I
know. . . . He is twenty-five, a hard-reading, deep-
thinking, quiet young fellow, with a fund of dry
humour. I wish, if you come across Macmillan's
Magazine, you would read " Letters from a Competi-
tion Wallah " ; it is a very good sketch of the life the
men lead who go into the Civil Service nowadays.
. . . Trevelyan came out three months after I did,
with Sir Charles, and for some time acted as Sir
Charles's secretary ; but the work did not suit him,
and he gave it up and devoted all his time to writing
his book and filling his tough, hungry mind with
Indian politics of all kinds. He is going into the
House as soon as possible after his return to
England, and I hope some day we shall see him
cutting his way surely and steadily to the fame he
so much covets.

Victor Brooke looked forward to spending some time
with Sir Charles Trevelyan, the father of his friend.

v END OF INDIAN TRIP 155

Rest assured (he writes to his mother) I will try and
make as much as I can out of it as regards informa-
tion. First and foremost there is Sir Charles him-
self, always ready and willing with his experience
and advice when any good to India is likely to come
out of it. Fully occupied himself, both in mind and
body, he is ever willing to help and guide the young
mind, pointing out what shoals and quicksands are
to be avoided, and at the same time drawing atten-
tion to what his long experience has taught him to
be the course most likely to lead to truth. In the
next place, I shall meet and hear the opinion of the
cleverest men in India, and will have every oppor-
tunity of learning the most minute mechanism of
the Government ; and last, but by no means least, the
Trevelyans have most kindly given me access to
all Lord Macaulay's unpublished writings, essays,
minutes, etc., dealing with Indian affairs. To pre-
pare myself in some small degree to digest as
much as possible, I have been reading steadily with
Trevelyan four or five hours a day for the last
six weeks.

So he made up his mind to go north to Calcutta to
see Delhi, Agra, and other places of interest on his
way home. Unfortunately I can find no record of
his further sojourn in India, but that it was full of
interest and of value to him we may be assured. Per-
haps this portion of his life may be closed best in his
own words to his mother, in which he sums up his views of
the lonely year he had spent among the Neilgherries :—
My life out here has been a mixture of pleasure and
hardships. I shall always look back upon it as a
bright spot, but looking back on a thing and looking
forward are widely different matters to going through.
These kind of expeditions are beautiful and enchant-

156 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP, v

ing as regards theory, but, believe me, when you
come to practice you find it a- totally different
matter. There is an indescribable misery in being
separated by thousands of miles from all one loves,
from all civilisation, and therefore from all real
comfort.

CHAPTER VI

Moufflon-Hunting in Sardinia — Trip after Wolves in the
Apennines

AGE 25.

IN November of 1868, with his brother, he visited
Sardinia, and had some excellent sport after moufflon
in the mountains extending from Cagliari to Oristano ;
and it is his experience gained during that trip that
he refers to in the following letter written to the Field
many years after : —

,JL

THE MOUFFLON

SIR — Some of the remarks by " Zoophilus " in his
article of the I 5th inst. on the moufflon (O. musimon\
relative to a distinctness of race being observable
between those inhabiting Corsica and Sardinia, not
being in accordance with my observations of that
animal in the latter island, I have thought it useful,
and perhaps calculated to prevent difficulties and con-
fusion in future, to put forward my objections to the
strength of the characters of distinction offered in that
article.

My observations are solely intended to apply to the
moufflon inhabiting the mountains that lie to the S.W.
of the great plain that runs from Cagliari to Oristano,
and they may possibly in some respects not extend to
those found in the more northern ranges. They are

158 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

the result of three visits — one made by myself, and
three by my brother — during which we have watched
and shot moufflon of every age and size, and, in the
case of my brother, at almost every season of the year.
In the article I am alluding to it is stated that, " whilst
the ewes of the Sardinian moufflon are horned, the rams
are coloured nearly like the ewes of their own and
other races." In the part of Sardinia to which my
remarks refer the ewes are invariably hornless.
Neither my brother nor the goatherds whom we
consulted upon this point — and who, from living with
their flocks at one season of the year entirely amongst
the moufflon rocks, know more of their ways and habits
than any one in the island — ever saw a female moufflon
with any sign of horns.

In colour the rams and the ewes differ immensely ;
and in his winter dress nothing can exceed the beauty of
the former. I shall never forget the first I saw, and, as
it in some degree illustrates the strength and distinct-
ness of the markings, perhaps I may venture to describe
the occasion. It was in the November of 1869. The
moufflon at this time of the year are in the habit of
leaving their usual rocky fastnesses for four or five
weeks, and, descending into the valleys and lower hills,
live upon acorns amongst the great woods of vastly
aged cork and ilex trees that clothe the valleys and
bases of their favourite crag-topped mountains for
miles and miles. Finding it exceedingly hard to come
upon the moufflon by fair stalking whilst they were
down in the woods, we found the best plan for getting
at them was to send an old Italian chasseur (who with
his two hounds had accompanied us from Italy) to
draw the woods and gorges at the earliest dawn of
morning, whilst we, leaving our camp in the woods an
hour or two before light, used to make for a couple of

vi MOUFFLON 159

the best passes among the high crags, to which the
moufflon would be pretty sure to go when disturbed in
the woods below. Upon the morning in question we
had not been long waiting before we heard the deep
bay of one of the hounds, and in a moment or two
every crag and ragged gorge was echoing and re-echo-
ing in the clear, cool morning air with the sounds of
the merry chase that was going on so far beneath us.
The pass I was on commanded an enormous gorge,
from the sides of which ran out smaller gorges into' trie
iron sides of the granite hills. In the middle of this
jutted up a rounded rock, like some mighty citadel,
300 feet in height. After about five minutes of great
suspense, during which time I had been peering into
the depths below me, trying in vain, amongst the con-
fusion of the echoes, to catch a glimpse of either hounds
or moufflon — not knowing at what moment a clatter of
hoofs might be followed by the sight of a moufflon
coming up my pass — I caught a movement of some-
thing white on the rounded rock immediately opposite
me. Whipping up my telescope, which was lying
beside me, and directing it towards the spot, I descried
the most glorious old ram moufflon. At the distance
he looked almost black ; his saddle, which alone had
attracted my eye, as white as snow. When I first saw
him he was leisurely picking his way up a ledge on the
rock side, led by three old ewes, none of them appar-
ently caring very much for the hounds, who, in spite of
the severe nature of the ground, were in full tongue
within 200 yards of them. Two or three times they
went round the rock, evidently most unwilling to leave
it. Once or twice I saw the old ram, his head a little
on one side, hop up on some jagged peak, and stand
calmly watching the hounds as they clambered with
difficulty after them. How I longed for a chance at

160 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

the noble old beast no sportsman need be told ; but it
was otherwise decreed. Too hard pressed, at last they
dashed into the ravine below the rock, and left the
gorge by a pass they are seldom if ever known to take.

As may be understood from this, the saddle of the
old rams — in this part of the island at any rate — is
most conspicuous. In fact, the excellent description of
the Corsican ram in his winter coat, given in the article
of " Zoophilus," exactly corresponds with those of South-
western Sardinia. Even the young rams, with horns
only 7 inches or 8 inches long, show more or less sign
of the white saddle and dark markings on the neck and
shoulders. These appear to increase in distinctiveness
with the age of the animal when in a wild state ; but I
have reason to suspect that captivity in some mysterious
manner affects the assumption of the white saddle.
In summer all — even the old rams — lose almost all
trace of the saddle, and are then of a uniform chocolate-
brown colour, their legs from the knees and hocks
whitish. The females in winter are of a rich ruddy
grayish-brown, the old ones with dark markings on the
sides, and some very slight sign of the saddle. In
summer they are much redder than the rams at that
same season, with a black dorsal streak.

How the direction of the horns can be in any way
indicative of the distinctness of the two races is incon-
ceivable to me. Nothing can well exceed the variation
to which these organs are subject. We have seen and
shot them off the same ground (and their heads are in
my collection at this present moment), with almost
every degree of curvature and variety of direction
within the bounds of a moufflon's head, from the horns
directed backwards so as to rub the hair off the neck,
to those curled forwards beside the cheeks.

April 17. VICTOR BROOKE.

vi MOUFFLON 161

SARDINIA,
November 1869.

Bas l and I left by moonlight at about 6.30, in-
tending to stalk for two hours, the men having orders
to meet us at the spring. It was a glorious morning,
a full moon lighting us over the rough rocky ground.
We separated. The rocks I stalked were on the north
side ; splendid ground, broken and rugged. I only
found fresh tracks, but could see nothing. I was first
back to the spring, and after a little Basil appeared.
He had shot a young female moufflon. She had
saved the life of a magnificent ram, which he had
stalked in the most gamey way, descending 1000
feet without his boots. After breakfast we beat some
rocks that we fancied the ram had gone into. Leo
got on a moufflon at once, running an old female up
to Basil's post, which he shot. The weight of the
former was ^ Ibs. in full. A bit of the old lady
we dined on, and found her excellent, wonderfully
tender. Saw cinereous vultures to-day.

2Oth November. — This being our last day we all
started early to beat the rocks on the north side, where
I saw tracks yesterday. We found marks where a boar
had been disturbed by our approach, and immediately
after Origo, who was walking first, blundered on the
top of a ram. He was round the corner over a scarp
like a flash. I bolted to the top of a hump of rocks
and spied a moufflon passing along far below me.
Basil saw the ram passing off to some rocks at the
bottom of a deep ravine. Going off to some good
posts, we sent the canardias and dogs down to beat
for those I had seen. They found at once. Leo

1 His brother Basil.

1 62 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

singled the ram, and ran him in the noblest way for
about three hours. No place the ram could choose
was too bad for the old dog ; relentlessly he stuck to
him. The chase led them far away through the rocks,
and we left the posts and followed them. Descending
through some cliffs, I came right on the top of him,
as he stood watching Leo mounting on his trail about
500 feet below. He dashed off and down a rock 20
feet at a jump. I fired, but missed him. He was out
of my sight in a second. Presently up came Leo ; hit
off the scent freshly, and was off more savage than
ever. I got down several hundred feet, and fixed
myself in a split amongst crags and cliffs in what I
conceived to be a most likely pass. Basil meantime
had caught sight of the ram, who was now joined by
three females, and turned them splendidly by firing
long shots. I sat still in my post, and nearer and
nearer came the tolling of the grand old hound.
Presently a stone came rattling down amongst the
rocks below me, and the next instant the moufflon
were clambering up the pass within 10 yards of me,
the ram last. One bullet sent him reeling round, and
the next killed a splendid female. The ram was only
wounded, and game to the last. Away he went far
below to some other rocks, Leo after him still. I ran
and climbed on to a peak close by. Up the opposite
cliffs I could see Leo and the ram going like the
wind, but the ram's days were numbered. Shorter
and shorter got the distance between him and Leo,
till round a cliff they disappeared, Leo at his tail ; and
the difference of the voice told at once that the ram
was at bay. Fearful that he would gain wind and
still escape, I made down the mountain, through the
most awful ground (for roughness and loose rocks),
as fast as I could, and at last gained the place where

vi A GALLANT RAM 163

Leo's baying came from. On the side of a rock
stood the ram, Leo below him. Every time he
attempted to close the ram butted him down the
rock. Even after putting my two last bullets through
him he would not drop, until Leo and I got hold of
him and pulled him over. He was a splendid young
ram, not more, I think, than two years old, but a
more gallant beast I never saw. After a little I
was joined by Ephesia Keer, who carried him up the
mountain to where Basil and Joe were waiting with
luncheon. Old Purdey's stock was cracked and the
trigger guard broke with the falls we had had. The
ram weighed 59^ Ibs. as he stood ; the female 52 Ibs.
Their skins were splendid. Thoroughly happy and
contented we returned down to Villacidro, where a
hearty welcome and warm congratulations greeted us.

SECOND WOLF TRIP.

BOGHISCO, APENNINES.

The men watched all night and saw nothing ; but,
notwithstanding, at the cart saddle (where I went at
3.30), as soon as it was light enough to see, I found
the immense tracks of the wolf quite fresh going to
the house, at the back of which, in the wood, I found
his tracks. He had evidently heard the snoring or
some movement in the house and gone away. I had
sent Orrigo and Cacceaton to beat the eastern slopes
in hopes a wolf might hear them and make up to my
post. The sun rose at six, and immediately before the
tawny owls began to hoot and the great tit to sing.
At eight I thought it was useless to wait any longer,
especially as many people were coming up to get fire-
wood, so determined to go and look at the donkey. I
went cautiously along at first ; but two men, with a mule,

M

164 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

kept so close to my heels that I was obliged to hurry
on faster than I liked ; and consequently, on getting up
the side of the cutting, in order to peep over, the
donkey made a slight noise. To my disgust, I was
only just in time to see a wolf trotting off into the
wood. He looked remarkably hyaena-like, very shaggy
and yellow ; this was all I could see. For a moment
he stopped amongst some young trees stern on, and
squinted at me in a leery manner under the branches.
He was not more than 50 yards off, and I saw the
light glittering on his neck. There were so many
trees in the way that I hesitated firing, and he trotted
away towards the young fir-woods north of the hill.
I felt, however, pretty sure he would come back, so
comforted myself with hope. He had dragged the
hind quarters of the donkey down to the edge of the
wood, and had eaten very little. I think this was
without doubt the wolf that had visited the house
all three nights since we have been back, and that
he was on his return after last night's visit when
he found the bait. I think it also likely he was one
of the wolves I had tracked down the Scafa, and
that he followed the tracks of the mules and dogs
to the house the night after we arrived. From the
little he had eaten of the donkey I think he must
have returned by some out-of-the-way path and not
past the saddle (cart) ; if not, he must have passed it
before 4 A.M., and taken three or four hours to make
up his mind that all was safe. This is not probable.

I found the men waiting for me at the cart saddle.
They had had a long run after a very fine fox, who
had gone to ground in the rocks at the foot of Toragio.
I forgot to mention an old raven that was assisting the
wolf at his repast. At 2 P.M. I was back at the post,
where I decapitated a high young Scotch fir, and made

vi WAITING FOR WOLVES 165

my seat on the top of it. My friend the raven had
gone away, probably as full as an egg of dead donkey.
The carcase lay almost immediately below me on a
strip of snow which stretched away down into the
gorge. I was very uneasy about the hill of Patoglino,
as it was very easy for a wolf to come on to it without
my seeing him, and either spy or smell me from it. I
sat as still as possible — so still that a party of crested
tits came into the branches round my head, and one
little fellow nearly lit on my back. At about 5.15
I observed a movement below me, and a most
lovely fox crossed the snow slope to leeward of the
donkey. She tapped over the snow with dainty
steps, and went down to where the wolf had been
feeding in the morning. Here she found some scraps
he had left, which she ate. Whilst doing so I could
see her beautifully. From size and shape I should
say she was certainly a vixen. Her face and entire
body was gray, and every hair was in its place ; her
fine brush was a deep auburn, contrasting strongly with
her body ; 4 inches of the tip was as white as snow.
Whilst eating the scraps she found, she kept a sharp
watch with the corner of her eye upon the carcase,
as if she was not quite sure that they were to be
entirely trusted. When the tit-bits were finished, she
tapped across the snow again to leeward of the
donkeys, recrossed it, and then, with all the hair of
her back on end and the white tip of her brush slued
round and her ears thrown well back, she stole up to
the hind quarters the wolf had been eating. With a
sudden snap she seized hold of the foot and gave it a
smart tug. Apparently surprised at her own boldness
she now turned her back on the temptation and toddled
off to the woods, stopping once to look back, but only
for a second, and then, with her brush in a straight line

166 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

with her back, and the very tip still curled to one side,
resumed her old-fashioned toddle and disappeared,
going exactly the same line as the wolf had gone in
the morning. About an hour afterwards, on the hill
south of post, I saw a magnificent fox ; he was travel-
ling along in a very decided manner, evidently tracking
something that I had missed seeing. He* disappeared
into the cutting fir path. He was a dark red -coloured
fox, much the shape of the old Abellio dog, with a
glorious thick coat and brush, with little or no white
on tip. About 8 P.M. it got so dark I put on the
night sight, and ate my sandwiches as cautiously as
possible. (I thought it was the safest time, but I am
now sure it was the unsafest, as decidedly the wolves
come generally a little after dark.) In half an hour
it got so dark (five days after full moon) that I thought
it was useless staying any longer, as I really could see
nothing, so took off the night sight preparatory to
getting down from the tree. I had just done so, when
within 100 yards of me, on the side of Patoglino just
above the path, a chorus broke out I shall never forget, —
yapping, snarling, growling, howling, and half barking ;
in fact, with the exception of barking, every possible
canine noise. I am sure there were at least five or six
wolves, and probably more. They were coming to-
wards me, as I could hear distinctly the duration of
the howling, enabling me to perceive the change of
position of the howlers. After about two minutes all
was still, and I sat very quiet for about a quarter of
an hour. Not a move or sound indicated that there
was a wolf within miles of me. The darkness was so
dense that I made up my mind to go, as had twenty
wolves come I should not have seen them. I had
much difficulty clambering down from the tree in the
dark, with a topcoat, large plaid, a rifle, a gun, and

vi THE WOLVES HAVE THE BEST OF IT 167

a telescope, but managed it safely, with exception of
a rent of great length in my trousers. I thought a
little music might be good for the wolves, so sung
them a song, and growled a bit at them as I passed.
I am sure they were standing on Patoglino hill looking
at me. With difficulty, the darkness was so great, I
found the road and got to Orrigo, who was at the cart
saddle. He had never heard a sound, which shows
how wonderfully the sound is checked by rivers and
hollows, for it was loud enough to hear 5 miles off, and
he was not more than half a mile.

Wednesday, ^th. — As I knew it was useless going to
look after my friends in the morning, after the long liberty
of the night, I took a sleep. Orrigo and Cacceaton
went to look for hares, but were driven back by the
tremendous rain. I took a cup of tea in bed, and
afterwards, at 8 A.M., went with Orrigo to see what
had taken place at Patoglino during the night. We
found the Morghi donkey, which was most decomposed,
had vanished. It was carried (not dragged, for there
was not a sign of a drag on the snow) bodily off. We
searched the gorges of Patoglino and Pegailure in all
directions. Here we found tracks coming and going,
crossing and recrossing. It was not till next day that
we found out the truth. Instead of dragging- the two
halves of the carcase down as we had expected, the
powerful brutes had carried the two heavy mouthfuls
up, one on to the top of Patoglino, and the other over
and into the young Scotch wood on its northern slope.
Here we found the skull, cervical vertebra, and one
rib. All round the snow was soiled and a way beaten
through it, with the tracks of wolves coming and going.
On each patch of snow in the open wood on the hill
of Patoglino we found their tracks passing to and fro,
evidently in vidette parties. As far as I could gather

168 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP, vi

from all the tracks, I believe they had been lying in
the deep woods of Northern Pegailure. About 8
P.M. they had stolen across the gorge and up on to
Patoglino, where they dodged about winding the bait,
but not liking to approach. At last their impatience
found vent in the long angry chatter which I heard.
Soothed by this escape valve, they began to dodge
about again when they heard me getting down from the
tree. This naturally threw them into redoubled caution,
whereupon they slipped across on the southern hill,
and from it round to the west of the carcases and
down into the gorges, where the same dodging back-
wards and forwards took place. At last the venture
was made. They had so fully convinced themselves
of the safety that one of them left his droppings in
the middle of the little glade. At 5 P.M. I went back
to the post. It was a misty dark evening, just the
contrary to yesterday, and I thought it fully possible
I might see a wolf sneaking out of the wood at dusk ;
but not a bit of it, four or five old ravens flapped
heavily over in the mist, being the only living thing I
saw. I had told Orrigo to bring the lantern at 8.30,
as it got so dark about this time it was perfectly use-
less stopping. Just before I heard his footsteps, I
distinctly heard the wolves dash away up the hill of
Patoglino; they had evidently been sitting at the
very edge of the wood, directly opposite me, looking
out over the glade. They are beyond doubt the most
annoyingly cautious beasts.

CHAPTER VII

The Pyreneers after Izards, Bears, and Bouquetin.
AGE 35.

FROM HIS JOURNAL.

VALL£E D'ARRAS,1
Tuesday, 2 1 st May 1878.

I LEFT Torla with Antoine and Celestin at five, and
went to try and stalk on Turbon, where Antoine said
there was a very fine old bouquetin. Found fresh
tracks of a female in the pine wood, but could not
follow it. We went on to the top of a limestone
mamelon, where we spied for two hours ; then went
down and lunched near the stream below. Afterwards
stalked all the precipitous sides of Turbon, where I
was much assisted in passing some nasty places by
a prickly herb of great strength which grows all over
the hillsides in these parts. Came on a track of a
bouquetin, and followed up to the rocks and lost it.
Spied three izards, and tried to stalk them, but failed.
On our way down a gorge to the main path about
6 P.M., when we thought our last chance was over,
Antoine heard the whistle of an izard in the wood
on the opposite side of the gorge. I squatted on
the little path and got ready. There was another
whistle, and the next moment a magnificent old soli-

1 This valley is on the Spanish side of the Pyrenees.

i;o SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

taire bounded on the top of a rock, and stood looking
at us breast on at about 200 yards, perhaps a
little more. I covered him with great care, and
shot him through the heart. He fell straight down
into the bed of the torrent below, breaking off one
of his horns as he fell. We were all delighted when
we got down to him, neither Celestin nor Antoine
having, they said, seen anything like him before. His
horns measured 6j inches in a straight line and 6
inches sweep. Antoine went up and found the other
horn on a bush. He then carried the izard as he was
down to the path, where I cut off his head for safety
sake. He was an old solitaire, one hind foot wanting.
Much pleased we trudged home.

Wednesday, 22nd May. — Went to the Vallee
d'Arras. No words can describe the savage beauty of
this glorious valley. At the mouth it is about a mile
broad, and gradually narrows. Its greatest length
must be 10 or 12 miles. The sides fall in vast
precipices, broken into by one or more cornices, the
lower of which are wooded and the upper bare. The
bed of the valley is densely wooded. Pine and silver
fir on the north side, with a few beech. On the south
side beech predominates. Box is the common under-
cover. The north side is somewhat higher than the
south, and the walls of the valley, which resemble the
ruins of a gigantic castle 7000 or 8000 feet high, and
miles in length, are the spurs of the Rojo (red
mountain), Salerous, Cotatoire, and Aronebo Mountains.
The highest unbroken precipice is that on Aronebo,
which must be 2000 feet. There is only one accessible
exit on the north side, viz. that by the Salerous, by
which tourists pass by the Breche from Gavarnie to
Torla. We beat the lower slopes of the S.W. side and
saw nothing but squirrels, though the men found tracks

VALL£E D'ARRAS 171

of a bear. Lunch at the Gave side opposite the grange
where we were going to put up. After lunch beat the
same side farther up the valley, going through the most
lovely glades among large beech trees, like an English
lawn. My post was in a stony couloir, which rose in
precipices to the left, and fell away in a wild ravine to
the right. We had found tracks of a she-bear and
cubs going up, but nothing turned up in the beat.
Went down to the cabane about 4.30.

Thursday, 2$rd May. — Up at four. Long time
getting the men off. Beat the south side, crossing the
Gave by bridge of fir trees the men had made. They
determined to beat the beat we made yesterday morning
west in case of bouquetin being there, in which case they
would be almost sure to go to the top cornice, which
they would then beat east towards my post. Antoine,
Celestin, and I went on ahead, Phillipe the Mayor
following us at some distance. On his way up he
spied the horns of a male bouquetin lying down, but
unluckily, though he followed us as fast as he could, he
did not overtake us, and on going back for his gun,
which he had left to mark the spot, the bouquetin was
gone. My post was behind a fallen withered tree,
commanding a more or less treeless hollow. Phillipe
was above, and Celestin below me. It began to rain.
I had been about an hour at my post when I saw three
bouquetin — a female, young one, and young male about
one year old — coming along the cornice to me as hard
as they could go. When within 100 yards I whistled
to make them stop, and they pulled up at about 80
yards off. I could not see the female's shoulder, which
was hidden by a tree, but took as far forward as I
dared. At the shot they all dashed off down, and
passed along between Celestin and me. I seized my
gun which I had loaded with bullets, and ran down to

172 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

a little rocky knoll in time to see the three beasts pass
in under it, the female going very sick. I fired both
barrels at her, hitting with one in the haunch. Follow-
ing them, found lots of blood which led to a very
difficult narrow couloir, down which they had gone.
When the men came up we went round and down, and
after a little searching found her dead in a thicket
below the couloir. She was a fine female with a large
young male in her. She weighed 60 Ibs. dressed,
74 Ibs. clean. Height, 30^- inches ; length from shoulder
to ischium, 3 I inches ; length of foreleg, from ulna to
heel, 1 7 inches ; circumference of chest, 3 5 inches ; of
forearm, 9 inches. She was in capital condition. It
came on so misty that we could do nothing in the
afternoon.

In January 1879 Brooke made his second sporting
expedition to the Vallee d'Arras with his brother
Harry, and the whole party had a narrow escape of
losing their lives from an avalanche ; it was also in this
expedition that he killed the famous bouquetin. I
have no diary relating to this period, but his brother
has given me the following particulars : —

We started in the depth of winter, leaving Gavarnie
at 4 A.M. one morning in January to cross the Porte
Gavarnie into Spain ; but about 6 A.M. a heavy snow-
storm came on, and we trudged wearily along in the
footsteps of our two guides, Celestin and Francois,
above our knees in soft snow. For many hours we
struggled on, the snow beating in our faces, and the
cold very great ; at last it became evident the
guides had lost their way and were getting frightened
of avalanches, Celestin whispering to us not to speak
loud. He had hardly said this when a blue streak
flashed between Victor (who was in front of me) and

vii CAUGHT BY AN AVALANCHE 173

the leading guide, and the next moment, to our
horror, we saw Celestin and Francois crumpled up
in the snow-drift, and carried away out of our sight
down the steep slope into the mist below. Our
feelings are better imagined than described, as we
stood alone in the midst of those mountains of snow
without any indication how to get backwards or
forwards ; the falling snow had filled up our tracks,
and we dared not speak above a whisper. It was
absolutely necessary to retreat from our present
position, and we retired about 100 yards from the
blue line, and made our way down the steep face in
the direction we had seen our men carried ; in a
few minutes, to our joy, we heard a whistle from
below, and on answering it were shortly joined by
both our guides, who, though they had been carried
down a considerable distance, had most providentially
escaped without serious injury. We then learnt
from Celestin what a dangerous position we were in,
having in the snow-storm got close beneath the
great avalanche at the top of the pass.
Captain Brooke goes on to describe the death of
the great trophy of this expedition, the big bouquetin,
which he speaks of as next to the Markhor of the
Himalayas, as one of the grandest beasts he had ever
laid eyes on. This was the first bouquetin killed in
the Pyrenees for many years, and was a most magnifi-
cent specimen.

To HIS BROTHER HARRY.

"PAU, qtk May 1879.

Post and I have just returned from the 'home of
my fathers, where the wild goat lives on the dread hill-
side,' and according to my promise I send you an
account of our sport. We were a month away alto-

174 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

gether, and had villainous weather very nearly all the
time. I got five dogs, rough-bred brutes, but two or
three of them very good, and, as you will see, they are
the right thing for the bouquetin. The first thing we
did was to beat the Sanctuary. Post going to your
post and I to mine, where Francis was when the
boodah1 passed him. The first thing I saw when I
got to my place were the fresh tracks of a big bear in
the little cavern where I hid myself. When the beat
was over I got to Post. I found he had seen two
bears, one a tremendous beast, who was pottering about
in front of him, about 300 yards off, for twenty minutes.
The old beggar at last went into a wood, and he never
saw him again. The next few days it did nothing but
snow. We made one or two beats, but could do
nothing, and found no tracks in the Sanctuary, which
astonished me immensely. One evening it was snowing
hard, and I determined to go and stalk the Sanctuary
alone. Up near the top cornice I came on the fresh
tracks of the old boodah, but the beggar went up a
desperately steep place, where I could not follow him,
with the snow, so I had to go home. Next morning
we posted ourselves in the old places, and made the
men beat the Sanctuary. The dogs found at once,
and ran the bouquetin several times nearly down to
the gorge. I got up to my post, but they would not
come out. One of the dogs had gone off after another
bouquetin higher up in the wood, from the very spot
where I had left the boodah's tracks, and I was sure
it was him. When we got the men and dogs out, Post
and I went and posted ourselves in the middle of the
wood, and made the men take it west. I felt sure we
were too late, and so we were ; when the beat was over,
we found the tracks of the old boodah going hard

1 Hindustani word to express " very old."

vii THE BOUQUETIN'S CASTLE 175

west through the deep snow. Old Antoine and Jethen
took up the tracks, tying up the dogs and leaving every
one behind. The tracks led straight up the hill, and
eventually up into that tremendous rock above the
Sanctuary, which I now call the castle. It is, as you
will remember, a desperate place, a broken precipice
about 700 feet high, with a few grassy spots near the
top of it. Antoine pronounced it impossible to go up,
especially as icicles varying from an ounce to a ton
weight were falling like a fusillade every moment. It
was useless attempting anything, so we went home.
Next day it was snowing hard, and we could do
nothing. Indeed, I think the next three or four days
we were snowed in. At last a fine day came, and we
were determined to try the place where I shot the old
bouquetin (this I have christened ' The Rocks '). I
posted myself below your old post when we beat the
Sanctuary, only looking the other way, and Post went
to the centre of the rocks. On his way up with Antoine
he saw a fine old bouquetin and a young one, and just
as the beat was over, he saw another bouquetin going
as hard as he could along a narrow ledge. The beast
went, as they thought, into a place he could not get
out of; but on sending a man into it, they found he
had climbed out of it by the top. I saw nothing but
beds of bouquetin under the cliffs where I was posted,
and the freshly-nibbled-off young pine shoots on the
trees close to my foot. Next day, hoping that the
boodah had come down from his castle, we beat the
Sanctuary, I posting myself at the entrance. I have
drawn a plan of the castle so that you can understand.
I was just to the left where you see V. B. Post was
at his old place where he saw the bears. The dogs
found at once, and off and on I heard them running
like mad in the wood far below me. At last their cries

1 76 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

died away. I had clambered up into the precipice on
to a little ledge about 20 feet from the ground, and
was sitting there in a brown study when I heard the
clattering of stones to my right, looked round, and saw
a young male bouquetin coming to me as hard as he
could fly, with his side glued to the rock. I dared not
move ; he was so close. On he came, and I hoped he
would pass right under me when I could have shot him ;
but the rascal, when he got within 10 yards of me,
pulled up, and only showing his head round a corner
he gazed straight at me, sitting down with my elbows
on my knees, checkmated on my narrow perch. I saw
his gray face and yellow eyes staring at me, and could
almost count the hairs on his forehead. Like lightning
he turned, and, still glued to the rock which slightly
overhung, he dashed back the way he had come without
giving me a chance of getting the gun off at him. A
short time afterwards I saw one of the men on the
upper cornice opposite me beckoning to me to go
to him, and could hear something about a bouquetin.
I was obliged to go down a long way to avoid the
avalanches, but at last got to the opposite side. There
I found that Celestin had seen a male bouquetin climb
up on to a craggy rock at the foot of the precipices
above the Sanctuary, and as far as he could make out
he had not come out. The icicles were something
dreadful, falling in dozens, and crashing with a clap
like thunder against the projections of the precipice,
they sent their fragments whizzing like grapeshot into
the snow at every side of us. Sheltering ourselves
under a pine, Celestin and I examined the ground, and
not seeing how the bouquetin could have got out, we
determined to wait till the sun set and the icicles had
stopped falling, when Celestin would climb up and put
him out. This we did, but when Celestin, after an

vii LAMMERGEIER KILLS AN IZARD 177

awkward climb, had got up the bird was flown. How
he had got out, the rock being surrounded with snow,
we have never made out. He must have clambered
up into the precipice itself. The next day we went
back to the rocks, and we posted ourselves at the east
end of them, sending the men and dogs in at the west.
I was posted above the place I shot the bouquetin, and
Post higher up. Just as Celestin, who was beating, got
near Post, he spied a bouquetin on a desperate rocky
place ; he tried to call Post, but before he could get to
him the bouquetin dashed down and tried to get back.
Exasperated, Celestin fired at her, and killed her stone
dead. She fell down on to the cornice below him,
breaking her foreleg in exactly the same place as my
old male, but luckily not hurting her horns. She
was a very old female, quite barren, her horns 12
inches long. The next day we went to the beat where
you had the row with the Spaniards. Here we bagged
a young izard, which one of the men saw killed by a
lammergeier.1 The robber swooped on the poor little
beast and knocked it over. It got up and struggled
away, but the lammergeier followed and swooped down
again, killing it dead. It snowed away hard for a day
or two now. One morning, about eight o'clock, Post
looked out, and our old friend the lammergeier flew
past within 20 yards of the house through the
drifting snow. When it got finer, thinking that the
boodah would be sure to be down in the Sanctuary,
we beat it but found nothing. When the beat was

1 GYPAETUS BARBATUS. Bearded Vulture. Dresser, in his Birds
of Europe ) states that it is found in the Pyrenees and Alps, and only in
the Atlas range in India. Total length, 43 inches ; a distinct species in
itself ; very solitary in its habits ; partakes far more of the habits of the
vulture than the eagle ; feeds on carrion ; sometimes attacking weakly
lambs, etc. The plate of the young bird in Mr. Dresser's book is taken
from a specimen in the collection of Sir Victor's brother, Mr. Basil Brooke.

178 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

over, Celestin and I went off and stalked, getting into
some wild, uncanny places on narrow ledges, where
there were holes full of droppings, the roofs of which
bristled with icicles. On our way home we thought
we would spy the ground, and there, near the top,
we discovered a fine male bouquetin grazing away
peacefully. It was awfully hard to see the beast, his
colour harmonising so with the rocks that every now
and then he faded away into them, and until he moved
could not be made out again. I knew at once he was
not the boodah. At daylight next morning we were
up at the same place to spy, and in a short time dis-
covered the bouquetin. Seeing that he was settled, we
went up to the castle to see what we could do. On
our way up Antoine began suddenly to point up to the
castle and shout as usual, and getting out the telescope
I saw a sight for sore eyes. Up near the very top of
the castle, gazing at us, stood three male bouquetin, to
the left hand of which was the old boodah himself.
How grand he looked, with his chest as black as night,
and his thick knobby horns, you can imagine. After
a little we made out two more below the first three — a
female and young one. After a bit the boodah lay
down, confident in the security of his old stronghold.
When we arrived at the foot of the castle, which took
us two and a half hours, we left all the men and the
dogs, excepting Celestin, Antoine, and a boy called
Joseph, and we posted ourselves, Celestin and the boy
going up the castle to do their beat. With great diffi-
culty they got up to the place I have marked 'grassy
slope very steep,' and when the bouquetin saw them
they clambered along a little broken ledge at a frightful
height to the chambre a coucher, a sort of cave on the
precipice side. Just at this time the weather, which
had kept fine until then, changed, and it began to snow,

vii THE BEST CLIMBER IN GAVARNIE 179

and the deepest fog I ever saw came on. I was really
very much alarmed on account of the men, whose voices
we could hear up in that awful place, which was shrouded
in impenetrable mist. Every now and then a great
stone came thundering down, dislodged by either the
men or the bouquetin. At last, to my great relief, we
saw the men clinging to the precipice side but out of
the fog, and in a few moments they were safely down.
Nothing more could be done that day, the boodah had
repulsed our troops, and, beaten, we were obliged to
stumble sorrowfully back to the cabane. I should not
forget to say that in the smallest of the three males I
had recognised my young yellow-eyed friend who had
been a shade too sharp for me a day or two before. I
see I have also forgotten that the day we first ran the
boodah up to the castle one of the men shot a fine
solitaire on the salle d?attente> and the day Celestin
shot the female bouquetin one of the men shot a
fine young dog fox on our way home. On arriving
at the cabane we found to our delight that the
best climber in Gavarnie, a man called Michell, had
come over with our letters, and if any one living could
put the ibex out of the chambre a coucher, he was the
man. Michell has often climbed into places where
goats had got stuck, and let them down with a rope,
calmly climbing down himself without a soul to help
him. He is the only man that Celestin allows to be
beaucoup plus fort than himself. Next morning, full
of hope, we returned to the castle, accompanied by
Michell ; but before we arrived there, snow, icicles, fog,
and filth of every description, began to fall, and after
waiting in vain for it to clear, we beat a retreat. For
another day or two we were snowed in, and the gales
that blew at night sometimes shook the old cabane like
a leaf. At last a fine day came, and we started for

N

i8o SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

'bad -luck corner' (the place where the old female
izard came up to me and got away without a shot ;
Post also had a bad bit of luck here). I was posted in my
old place, and Post where Francois was. I had not been
long at my place when I heard the dogs in full cry
coming towards me, and presently saw an izard
labouring heavily through the deep snow straight to
my post. I let him come till he was about 40 or
50 yards from me, and shot him through the heart.
He was a nice young male, with very massive horns.
Another had gone to Post, but had winded him, and
turned off sharp. We arrived at the cabane about an
hour before dark, when Post went off to catch a trout
for dinner, whilst I went to my old place in the bed of
the river from which I used to spy the castle. After a
little time I caught sight of the bouquetin, and fancy
my delight, instead of being up in the castle, they were
down on the slopes of the salle dattente. It was
glorious to watch the old rascals picking about at their
ease. It was the three males : the boodah a little by
himself to the right, the yellow-eyed scamp above him
knocking down snow on to the boodah's back, and the
aide-de-camp, the second largest male, a little to the
left. Once or twice the boodah fed into such a bad
place that he could hardly get out of it apparently. I
watched them till dark. Next morning Celestin was
up at dawn, and went to spy, finding them almost
exactly where I had left them. As fast as we could
we got ready, and in one and a half hours we were
creeping along under the left-hand precipices, where
V. B. is written, towards the 'entrance,' in the hopes
of seeing our friends on the salle d'attente. Nothing
being in sight, we each of us climbed, and with very
considerable difficulty, I can assure you, to our posts,
which, as you see, command the salle dattente^ where

vii MOVING THEM WITH A BULLET 181

we thought the bouquetin still were. No sooner had I
arrived at my place when Antoine, who was with me,
caught sight of the three bouquetin far above us in the
chambre a coucher I There was no doubt about it ;
there they were, quietly looking down at us from their
lofty bedroom. Celestin came across to us from Post's
post, and we held a council of war. They were about
400 yards from me, too far, of course, for anything like
a shot, half hidden as they were by the projections of
rocks, etc. ; but perhaps not too far, it suddenly struck
me, to make them hop. I determined to try what the
effect of a shot would be, so taking very steady aim at
the boodah's chest, I pulled. The result was magical.
The ball must have splintered on the rocks behind
the old fellow's back, for like lightning he bounded
forward, and, followed by the others, dashed down
the desperate precipice side, turned along the top
ledge, and disappeared into a cornice behind the
castle. Post now decided to go to the back to see
if he could not make them leave the back cornice in
like manner with your rifle, and I remained guarding
the castle. He had been gone about an hour when I
saw the boodah and the young male come back round
the corner as hard as they could ; but instead of coming
to me the old rascal crossed the 'grassy slope very
steep/ and dived down into some impenetrable hole to
the left of the castle out of sight. About five minutes
afterwards the aide-de-camp appeared, but instead of
following the others he dashed down the hill, and
getting on to the precipice side he passed across
the most dreadful place to the salle tfattente. Once
or twice he was very nearly stuck, and I could see
his head peering up and down, while the icicles
crashed all round it, in dire despair as to how he could
get back or forward. At last he made the top

182 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

of the salle (Tattente good, always out of shot, and dis-
appeared. When Celestin came with Post we examined
in all directions, but found that the salle d'attente was
impracticable ; there is absolutely, as far as we now
know, no way up to it. Night fell, and down we were
obliged to go again. The weather continued villainous
for the next few days, and we could do nothing, and
when it cleared, we felt sure that the desperate wind
must have driven the bouquetin from the castle, where
we could not see them after careful spying. Accord-
ingly we determined to try the Sanctuary again with
the dogs. This time Post went to the entrance to the
castle, and I posted myself in the big couloir in the
centre of the wood. Very soon I heard the dogs, but
instead of coming in our direction the cries died away.
About two hours afterwards two of the men appeared
calling me, so I made across as fast as I could, and
found that the dogs had run a female and young one
up on to a ledge in the Cotatoire gorge to the east of
the Sanctuary, and that Celestin was keeping guard
over them. Calling up to Post and telling him to
come as fast as he could, I made off with Antoine as
hard as I could to Celestin. In about an hour I found him
squatting behind a rock guarding a little narrow ledge,
about 100 feet up, in the middle of which was an icicle-
roofed hole, fronted by a solitary pine bush. Behind
this he told me the bouquetin were. I waited for Post,
who joined me in about half an hour. The question
now was if the bouquetin could get out at both sides
of the hole. I resolved this by taking the side which
looked the worst and leaving the other to Post. As I
got to my place, where I went alone, I found that the
ledge opened out greatly, ending at last in a rocky
protuberance with desperate steep sides, here and there
overhanging. It was about 100 feet high. At the

vir DEATH OF TWO BOUQUETIN 183

end of and below this I posted myself, and had hardly
got there when I heard my friend Post cannonading
away like a man with your rifle "which I had lent to
him, as I was anxious that he should kill one. Shot
followed shot, and cries and yells to such an extent,
that I felt pretty sure they were making a fine mess of
it. At last I heard, ' Look out, they are going to you !'
and next moment I saw their heads, as they scrambled
along the ledge straight to me. I lay very quiet
behind a pine gazing up the rock, not knowing where
they would appear. I was not left long in doubt, a
small avalanche of stones being closely followed by the
head and shoulders of the old female. For a moment
she paused to see that all was right, and the little bullet
sent her flying like a stone past me into the gorge
below with a broken heart. The little fellow, a male,
dashed back, and showed himself over the overhanging
part of the ledge. Another bullet whacked into his
little chest, but only grazed him. Like the wind he
flew to the left and peeped over, only showing his head
and a bit of the neck, into the latter of which I sent
another ball, but again only a flesh wound. This was
too much for the little fellow. Down the rock-side he
flew, at the bottom of which he was met by the dogs,
and away they crashed through the wood below me.
Stuffing in another cartridge I let fly again, and this
time I saw by the gather together of the stride that
harm was done. However, he held bravely on, and it
was only when a fourth ball through his heart and
lungs reached him, as he stood on a rock about 150
yards off, that his stout little limbs gave way, and he
lay down in the snow and died. Upon going to the
female, I was very pleased to see Post's bullet through
the top of her shoulders, as I was enabled to give her
to him on the claim of first blood. He was not quite

184 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

satisfied that this was really a good business, but I
have him consoled to it now, and he is as proud as
Punch. The next day we beat the rocks, but did
nothing, and Michell arriving at night, we determined
to have a tremendous go at the castle the following
day, which was our last. In the evening, on the way
home, we spied the three males feeding on the salle
d'attente. In the morning Celestin was up early, and
they were still there, and when he was back we started,
arriving at the foot of the castle about seven o'clock.
No sign of the bouquetin was to be made out from the
entrance, so Post climbed up to his place at once. As
he was on the way up, I caught sight of the aide-de-
camp, young male, and a young female one, on the
grassy slope, but no sign of the boodah. They were
looking quietly down at Post, and after a bit clambered
up to the chambre a coucher. I got round to my place,
and was just arranged there when I saw the men com-
mence the ascent of the castle, Michell leading. The
day was lovely for a wonder, and the snow having
melted, they got on much easier than they expected.
It was so early the icicles had not begun to fall. The
bouquetin watched the men, at first coolly, but gradually
getting more and more uneasy. At last the men were
on the upper grassy slope, Michell going on to
prevent them passing to the back cornice. When
there they all began to shout and fire pistol-shots.
This was too much for the aide-de-camp; taking one
look round him he scrambled down the precipice, and,
dashing at full speed across the grassy slope, where the
men were standing, disappeared over the precipice side.
The men say it was awful the place he went down,
and down he did go, for we afterwards found his tracks
where he lit in the snow when he jumped from the
precipice on the west side of the castle, where no one

vii ANOTHER VICTIM 185

ever knew a bouquetin descend before. The other
bouquetin hesitated a moment before they left the ledge
leading to the chambre a coucher, when they came down
like indiarubber balls. They attempted to follow the
aide-de-camp, but the men were too quick for them this
time, and the shouts and shots obliged them to take
the pass which led to Post. Down they came pell-
mell, head over heels, bounding like peas on a drum.
Suddenly there was a puff of white smoke, and then
another and another, as the bouquetin literally fell over
Post. The female fell very nearly on him. I now put
down the telescope with which I had been watching
them and took up the little rifle. Presently I saw the
female come flying down the slope below Post, where
she turned and came straight to me. I was on
a beastly steep place, and consequently very much
puckered up. Just as she got within about 40 yards
and right below me, the bouquetin got hidden by the
rocks between me and her, and the next moment I
saw her nip across a place right under me and vanish.
I pulled, and a splash of blood remained behind on the
snow. The bouquetin, however, held on, and I saw
her going along a ledge about 150 yards off. Just as
I was going to fire again, I heard Celestin, from the
top of the castle, shouting, ' A vous, a vous, encore, le
male au-dessous de vous, tirez, tirez vite ! ' As quick
as I could I turned and cut back to where I had just
fired at the female, and saw the young male nip across
the same place that I had fired at the female. I
snapped at him like a rabbit in Johnston's woods and
missed him, but this time I knew better the line he
would take. Getting back to the projecting rock from
which I had last seen the female, I waited patiently.
After a moment the bouquetin appeared, going along a
narrow ledge as hard as he could at about 200 feet

i86 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

from the ground and about I 5 o yards off. I covered
him steadily, and just as he turned to get down a place,
knocked him on to his head as dead as a door-nail.
He was so dead that he fell on a narrow ledge, where
he remained and saved his horns. We never could
find out where the female went to, the icicles being so
bad that we dared not follow the exact line she had
taken, and so lost the tracks. A short time after we
were all lunching, when Antoine suddenly began to
gesticulate and call out loudly as if he were mad,
pointing up to the top of a desperate place which faces
the castle, and which we call the * Fortress.' It is
very like the place Leotard came off, only on a much
bigger scale, and in winter quite inaccessible. We all
looked up, and there, standing on a snow field in the
middle of it, looking down quietly at us, was the old
boodah. He looked magnificent, and with the telescope
I saw him as clearly as if he were only 50 yards off.
He seemed half-inclined to come down at one time,
and I made a great rush across the avalanches in the
couloir to cut him off; but he was far too cute, and
turning off he strolled quietly away to a recess in the
rock, from which nothing could dislodge him, and there
we left him. I need not say I intend going back to
try conclusions with him, and hope to have his head in
the trophy room yet. I have also heard of another
very fine male on very easy ground near Bucharo.

And now I have, I fear, given you a big yarn, dear
old boy. Send it on at once to Basil, and ask him to
send it to Fred, and when you have done with it I will
ask you to let me keep it as a kind of journal of the
trip."

VALL£E D' ARRAS.

Monday, 2%th March 1881. — Left Gavarnie at
6.30. Thirteen porters, Celestin, Passet, Jacques,

vii VALL£E D'ARRAS 187

Michell, and Tambell and Medor, the two dogs.
Snowing hard, afraid we could not cross the col, but
managed it. Arrived at Torla at 6 P.M. Saw six
izards to the right of the old solitaire's gorge, but too
late to stalk.

Tuesday, 2Qth MarcJi 1881. — Paid 350 francs for
the lease of the valley for this year to the town
councillors, and left for the " Buster " beat. A long
tiresome walk and stiff hot pull. Posted where I shot
the young male izard two years ago. Arthur Post on
the post below. A good deal of snow below the post.
Saw nothing ; Michell had found the tracks of a bear
going towards the White Rocks. Reached cabane at
about 5.30. Got out the straw, etc., and dined at
7.30, and to bed.

Wednesday, $oth March 1 88 1. — A glorious morning.
Off about eight. Arthur and I went alone up to the
chateau, he taking the post on it, and I the one on
the rock in the wood below. Sun very hot, but a cold
easterly wind. Later on it got clouded and cold.
The men put up three bouquetin which Antoine saw
from Cotatoire — a female and two smaller beasts. They
crossed to the Black Rocks. In the afternoon beat the
little Sanctuary, but saw nothing. The choughs are
building. Arthur saw two mobbing an eagle yesterday.
Letters arrived.

Thursday, 31 st March 1881. — Pouring rain, so
breakfasted in bed. It cleared a little afterwards, so
Arthur and I took our rifles and went to the end of
the valley. There was a lot of snow beyond the bear's
tree, and we had some bother in getting through a
young beech wood, in which the trees for 20 feet and
upwards were bent to the ground with snow. Found
the tracks of a bouquetin going down near the Cueva.
Farther on found tracks of izards ; but it rained so

i88 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

hard it was impossible to use the glasses. Very little
snow on the cornices of the " rocks."

Friday ', 1st April 1881. — Still raining hopelessly.
About two o'clock it cleared slightly, so we determined
to try the Sanctuary. Arthur went to his post on the
chateau, and I to that at Cotatoire. No snow on the
path, so I got along nicely, taking an hour and a half.
They beat towards me and arrived at five, having seen
nothing.

Saturday, 2.nd April 1881. — Still raining hard. At
2.30 I went alone to stalk along the foot of the rocks.
Under the " dead pine post " I found fresh tracks and
droppings of bouquetin. Went along quietly, keeping
as close as I could to the foot of the precipices from
which the water poured. As I passed along the
ledges where they lie I found droppings in quantities
of all ages. Near the avalanche I found the perfectly
fresh tracks of a bouquetin, which I followed up their
pass, through the box bushes, on to the "yellow
cornice," and then from that up another narrow run
to the thickly-bushed cornice above. These cornices
form a regular network, complicated to the greatest
degree ; they are intersected with precipitous rocks
which are on their part disintegrated, affording holes
and ledges of all sizes, some covered with box bushes,
and some are where the bouquetin can hide themselves
to their hearts' content. I came down to the path at
the avalanche as it was five o'clock, and wandered
slowly home, keeping a sharp eye for bears. Just as I
got to the bottom of the Cotatoire, I heard Arthur fire
at the top of the Sanctuary ; shortly afterwards came
on his and Celestin's coat and glass on the top of a
box bush. Here Michell and Vincent joined me, they
having heard the shot also. We called and Arthur
and Celestin answered from the top of the wood.

vii BAD WEATHER 189

Leaving the men, I went home, as I was wet through,
and Arthur appeared about 7.30. He and Celestin
had been spying from the south side, and he had spied
three bouquetin feeding on the mamelon, close to the
precipices to the east of the " Banbox " ; they had a
hard run up, and he had got a shot at about I oo yards
and wounded the female, but too far back. She had
rushed down into the pine wood above the precipices,
and he had lost her. They had also spied a very fine
solitaire on the " lookout " on the lower cornice of
Aronebo.

Sunday, ^rd April 1881. — Snowing hard when we
awoke. It was no use waiting, so we tried the wood
below the " rocks." Arthur went to the yellow
cornice and I to the near post. Very hot clambering
up through sleet and snow, encumbered with rifle,
lunch, and wraps. Placed myself on the lower ledge
in an old bouquetin bed, from which I could see a
long way down the hill. On their way up the men
had found fresh tracks of a smallish bear in the snow
on the path. It is not impossible that we nearly met
yesterday afternoon. They saw nothing in the beat.
At five o'clock it cleared up and gave promise of a fine
day for to-morrow, which promise, however, none of us
much believed in. Pierre arrived with letters.

Monday, ^th April 1881. — Raining harder than
ever. The only change which I regarded pleasantly
from my bed was from rain to sleet and from sleet to
snow and back again. Could not stand it, so tried the
Sanctuary in hopes of a male, or at any rate, one of
the small things that were with Arthur's female, also in
hopes of finding her. I went to the chateau and
posted myself under a pine, sheltered from any stray
stones that might fall from the overhanging precipices
above the chateau. It began to snow like mad and

190 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

got awfully cold, which I felt the more as I had
forgotten my knitted gloves. Arthur had taken the
lower part. The beat took an age, and it was awfully
cold and uncomfortable. As soon as I heard the men
I went down to Arthur, and we crossed the gorge and
joined Michell, and struggled up to have a look for
Arthur's female, but when we got there it was too late
to do anything. On the way down to the Cotatoire
path Tambell found the froms of a good solitaire that
had been dead about a month. The men had found
tracks of bouquetin in the beat.

Tuesday, ^th April 1881. — A finer-looking morning,
and Pierre started for Gavarnie. Tried the Sanctuary
again. I went to the Banbox, as we suspected that
something had played a trick on us yesterday in the
precipices about this spot, from the way Tambell had
looked up and sniffed all along their foot. I had to
cross a very nasty couloir before getting to my post,
from which the rocks had fallen constantly yesterday.
I bolted across as hard as I could, and immediately
afterwards a large rock and a fusillade of smaller ones
thundered down across the place I had passed. Medor
made me jump whilst at my post, coming up a gully I
had not observed to the east of the post. I had heard
his footsteps, and was sure it was something for a
moment. Celestin, who was top man, called me
shortly after passing under me to say he had found
Arthur's bouquetin. I went down to look at her.
She had gone about 400 yards ; she was shot low and
far back ; a nice young female about five years old, in
kid. Afterwards went up to the precipices to get out
of the rain, and lunch. Arthur joined me, and we went
to look at the bouquetin which Vincent had carried ofT
quietly, and for a bit we could not make out what had
happened to her. Sketched the bouquetin.

vii FRESH TRACKS OF A BEAR 191

Wednesday, 6t/i April iSSi. — A finer morning.
Left at nine to beat the cornice above the rocks.
Antoine and Celestin accompanied us to the posts.
The mists came on so heavy as we got to the first
caves, that we decided on sending Antoine back to call
the men and tell them to beat the low central beat on
the south side for bears, of which we had found tracks.
The forest in this beat, which is a narrowish strip
between the precipices and the Gave, is principally
composed of beech, with here and there clumps of pine
and silver fir. The foot of the precipices are as usual
disintegrated into irregular ledges, where, from the
droppings and tracks, the bouquetin must constantly
lie. The immense quantity of beech masts makes it a
favourite haunt for bears, though I fancy they seldom
stop so low down in the daytime. Arthur was posted
opposite the big avalanche beyond the first caves, and
I at a splendid spot commanding three fords. The
beat took a long time, the men not arriving till three.
Afterwards we went to the head of the valley. Just
beyond the snow-covered young beech wood we came
on the perfectly fresh tracks of a bear. These Celestin
and I followed, Arthur keeping above us near the
precipices. The tracks led down to the Gave,
crossed south, then went into the Gave, up which
the beast had waded, then left the river and led straight
up the steep bank through the deep snow and up the
south side. It took us some time to find all this out.
We sent Michell over to follow the tracks a bit, and he
found an older track going along and coming down
again. There were also tracks on the north side far
up the valley, but rather older. I believe all these
tracks are made in the night or early morning, and
that the bears get up into the most inaccessible
cornices during the daytime. On the way home we

192 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

found the top of the skull of a magnificent old male
bouquetin in the torrent bed below the " old bou-
quetin's " cornice. We also saw the solitaire on the
top of the " lookout," where Arthur and Celestin
had seen him the other day. A fine evening, with
occasional showers, but mists over that evil omen,
Turbon.

Thursday, yth April 1881. — Nor did Turbon lie,
raining hard this morning off and on. Determined,
notwithstanding, to beat the lower cornice of Aronebo
for the solitaire. Antoine and Celestin came with us,
leaving the other men at Cotatoire. We turned up
after passing the Cueva and had a sharp climb up a
cheminee in the lower precipices. From the top of this
we spied two nice solitaires on the edge of the precipices
between the lower and upper cornices. They were
keeping a sharp lookout down hill, but had not seen us.
Keeping out of sight, we dispersed to our respective
posts, I taking that close to the upper precipices. The
best place was at the edge of a small couloir, and, as no
avalanches had fallen during the day, I thought I might
venture to post myself on its edge, having secured an
overhanging ledge to protect my head. On my way up
I knocked my right thumb against a sharp rock and
split the nail across the middle. I had been about an
hour at my post when a tremendous avalanche fell down
the couloir, almost over my head. The roar was dread-
ful, and the rush of air, icy cold, which it caused, almost
blew me away, though I had thrown myself on my face
and held tight on to the rocks. I was spattered all over
with snow and beat a hasty retreat as soon as I thought
it was safe to do so. Tracks quite fresh of izards
passing close to my post and all going eastward looked
bad, and sure enough the men arrived, having seen the
tracks of a bear on the " lookout " and along the cornice,

vii THE LAMMERGEIER 193

off which he had doubtless hunted the izards. I was
very glad to see the men safe. Shortly after I had left
the couloir another avalanche had fallen with terrific
force, and after joining the men, while we were talking,
another. Went eastward a bit to see if we could make
anything of the solitaires, and where the precipices end
caught sight of a female izard lying in a hole about 200
yards off. I could only see her shoulders and would
not risk the shot, hoping that she might get up to graze
and come closer. Heavy mist came on and hid her
from us, and when it cleared she was not to be seen.
The wind had changed. We attempted to follow her,
but the fresh snow on the steep slope above the most
ugly-looking hole, some 400 feet deep and a pic, made
us think prudence preferable to valour. I had some
bother getting down the cheminte with my thumb.
Reached home tired and disgusted.

Friday, %th April 1881. — A dirty morning. Mists
which soon turned into rain. Beat the " rocks," I going
to the old post above the " old bouquetin's cornice," and
Arthur to the post above. Just before we separated,
we found the old tracks of a bear in the snow in the
couloir behind my post. Had not been long at my
post when I saw our old friend of two years ago, the
lammergeier, floating along the sides of the " rocks,"
examining the ground carefully below him, in hopes
doubtless of a chance at an izard like that he got
when he killed the one on Turbon, whose head I have
at home. I had just commenced my lunch after having
been about two hours and a half at my post when
Antoine appeared above me with Vincent. The latter
had come to say that the dogs had run a male bouquetin
on to a ledge on the high precipice of Aronebo, near
the Cotatoire pass. Poor Vincent estaba muy escansado,
so I gave him a pull at my wine. As soon as Arthur

I94 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

had joined us from his post we started along the
cornices above the " rocks," or rather the top cornice
of the rocks. I had never been along here before and
was very glad to see it, though I anticipated some nasty
places, especially above Cotatoire. However, there being
little snow, we got along without any difficulty, though
here and there we had to pass along some narrowish
places above the couloir which yawned below us un-
pleasantly. Above the yellow cornice is the worst,
but there being no snow at this spot it was easily
passed. After about two hours' hard walking and
scrambling we came in sight of the men, Celestin and
Michell, standing warming themselves at a blazing log
and gazing up to the precipitous sides of the buttress.
When we got down to them, they pointed out a very
fine young male bouquetin, about 500 feet up, standing
looking out of a kind of hole and regarding us with
apparent composure. He evidently did not think
himself quite safe, from the manner in which he peered
sideways out of his hole from time to time. The
question was how to get at him. We were half afraid
he could get up the buttress, in which case we were
done with him ; however, we considered that if he could
get there without coming down, he would have done so
already. After much consideration we decided that I
was to try and stalk him, and that Arthur should go
and post himself at the foot of the buttress in case he
got away from me. As soon as I saw Arthur near his
place I started, leaving Antoine and Vincent to watch
him below. We were obliged to make a long detour
in deep snow in order to get out of his sight, but at last
arrived at a spot from which we could just see the head
of the rascal still peeping about carefully. The sides
of the precipice are here much disintegrated, so that
though steep we could clamber up and down and along

vii A LONG SHOT 195

almost as we wished. Once we thought of climbing
straight up and trying to shoot him almost on a level,
but an avalanche falling with a horrid roar in the
couloir by the buttress made us think it better to beat
a retreat. There remained now but one chance, and
that was for me to creep along a narrow ledge, keeping
glued as close as I could to the rock. This I did, but
the bouquetin saw me, and without hesitation bounded
out of his hole. For a second he stopped broadside on
a rock, looking down towards Arthur. It was a long
nasty shot, close on 200 yards, and the beggar was
dreadfully the colour of the rocks. After the shot he
dashed off, and for a moment or two I thought I had
missed him. I had just got in another cartridge when,
to my relief, I saw the poor fellow fall backwards off a
steep rock and roll out of sight stone dead. He was,
as we afterwards found, hit exactly behind the shoulder.
There was no use me going up for him, so I left the men,
who were in great delight, singing congratulamine, to
bring him down, and went down to the fire. I was very
thirsty and drank freely of the Spanish wine which is
mighty strong. In about a quarter of an hour the men
came down with the bouquetin, and we laid him out and
examined him. He was a fine beast, about four years
old, all his incisors except the outer pair. Slight
indications of the side line, but no beard or smell
Returned in spirits, picking up Pierre who had been
lost

Saturday, gth April 1881. — There having been two
other bouquetin with the one I shot yesterday, and we
having found their tracks on the cornice below the
" lookout," we determined to beat the " rocks " again.
I forgot to say the dogs put the bouquetin up yesterday
in the Black Rocks, where the men found many marks.
Arthur went to my old post at the east end, and

o

196 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

Antoine above him, and I went to the yellow cornice.
It was a very hot pull up through the wood. Just as
I got on to the cornice, I thought I heard a whistling
snort behind me somewhere, and am pretty sure it was a
bouquetin. I posted myself on the ledge under the
precipice, guarding up to the right along its foot and
over the avalanche to the left, in which direction I
commanded some capital bits of cornice. It was here
that Arthur saw three bouquetin in 1879. I saw
the lammergeier on his usual hunt. The men arrived
about two, Celestin and Michell on the two little cornices.
They had found lots of tracks and droppings, but seen
nothing. They passed on by me to finish the beat,
and when I thought it was time went down and joined
them on the path by the avalanche. We spent the
evening spying, Celestin and I going to the south side
to spy the rock to see if, after all, the beggars could
be there and come out to graze, but saw nothing.

Sunday ', loth April 1881. — A lovely morning.
The men started an hour before us to beat the Torla
beat, Arthur and I posting ourselves high up in the
ordinary posts. Saw nothing but an old black wood-
pecker, who sat motionless, half-hidden by the trunk of
a tree for twenty minutes, spying me round the corner.
Lunched on a hot chicken at the cabane on passing.
Decided upon beating the chateau, as we suspected that
the bouquetin must have slipped off behind the beaters
in that direction ; we also determined not to leave the
Black Rocks out this time, as I fear we have too often
done before now. Arthur went to the castle and I to
the Cotatoire pass. The men took a long time ; but on
arriving, told me they had found lots of marks and a
large track, low down, passing across the gorge into the
Sanctuary. I kept my post, and the men gradually got
smaller and smaller, and at last disappeared. As soon

vii POST GETS A YOUNG MALE 197

as they were out of sight, I went along the narrow ledge
above the rocks to examine the marks they had seen,
and also in hopes of something coming back. I sat
down from time to time. I was greatly struck with
the disintegration of the sides of the precipices. Here
and there there are large bushy ledges very difficult
of access, but once there, roomy enough for a herd
of bouquetin. It is impossible for the men to examine
these innumerable, small, disjointed ledges, and still
on any one of them the finest old male in the valley
might be lying, and there he would lie till they
passed. Above me I saw the ledge along which
the old " boodah " had passed when I was here with
Harry (2Oth January 1879?), and farther on came
to the ledge, with its solitary little pine bush, behind
which the female and young male hid themselves two
years ago. The dogs had hunted them out of the
Sanctuary, and Celestin had fortunately seen them go
up on to this ledge. After this he had kept watch on
them for about two hours while he sent for us, and they
had never shown the top of their noses, even lying
absolutely still behind the pines. Even when we arrived
we had to fire some two or three shots or so to make
them come out. I never heard or saw any sign of any-
thing living in the Sanctuary, so went down to the
beeches in the flat and lay on my back a long time
spying the cornices and precipices on all sides. Upon
arriving at the cabane, to my astonishment, my question,
No han visto nada? received the unexpected answer,
Si, un bucardo, y estd muerto. The dogs had put up a
fine young male just below the Banbox and run him
long and merrily all over the west end of the Sanctuary
within 50 yards of his heels, and had at last put him
up on to the chateau within 10 yards of Arthur, who
at first shot saw nothing but his astonished face and hit

198 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

him through the cheek. With his second he broke his
back as he dashed down the hill. He was a three-year-
old, with four broad teeth.

Monday, I ith April I 88 1. — A fine morning, but with
sharp N.E. wind and cold. Beat the central and east
beats of the south side. On my way up to my post
with Antoine we came on the fresh tracks of bouquetin
in a hollow below the rocks where my post is (we had
left Arthur at the low post). Immediately afterwards
we came on four bouquetin, about 80 yards off, feeding
in the sun amongst a lot of rotten branches under some
silvers. At first I could only see a year-old distinctly,
and the little beast saw me and stood squinting at me
through the sun. The wind was very shifting and a
puff reached them. A very fine female stepped up on to
a trunk and offered me a most tempting shot. I had
the trigger half pulled, for it was difficult to resist, though
I had vowed not to shoot females, when Antoine
whispered, Hay un bucardo estd escondido de Vd. detras
un arbol. Of course I did not know what sort of a
male it might be, and while I was trying to make out,
a second puff of wind reached them and they bolted.
The male, if male there was, was so small I could
not distinguish him from the others. They went
towards the men. The beat as usual took a long time
and the cold was bitter. When the men arrived, they
said that the dogs had put the bouquetin and another
solitary one up into the top cornice. As they had
now to go down and round to the bears' ford I lit a fire
under a silver and warmed myself till about 2.30, when
I went east to see the jagged rock which commands the
post. It is a splendid post, but the cold was horrible.
The men arrived at last, having seen very little signs.
Went down about 5 P.M.

Tuesday, 12th April 1881. — Beat the rocks from

vii DEATH OF SHE-BEAR 199

the east. Arthur going to the Cotatoire, and I to the
dead tree post. When the men got as far as me
(quarter to twelve), I went down and breakfasted under
the beeches, got to the cabane at 1 2.30, and Hillier gave
me a hand with my rifle up the Salerous, on my way to
the castle, where I arrived at 2.15, and posted myself
where Arthur had been sitting when he killed the male
on the I oth. When the men arrived, they told me that
Arthur had killed a she-bear at Cotatoire about a
quarter to ten. She was followed by her cubs, and
came straight along the edge of the precipice above the
Black Rocks at a gallop. He hit her well behind the
shoulder, and rolled her down the avalanche stone
dead. He fired three shots at the cubs, and thought he
hit one in the foot or leg. On my way down I spied
Arthur sitting down, contentedly reading his letters,
which had just arrived, in front of the cabane^ with the
bear lying in front of him. A real jolly moment of
blissful self-satisfaction, known only to the slayer of a
good beastie. The bear was just stopping suckling.
She was small, but with a fine head and lovely coat.
I expect it was our friend who disturbed the big
solitaire on the 7th. Old Tambell came in with her
chops very much swollen, and we could not make it
out, and half thought one of the cubs might have
boxed her ears, but I don't think it. Sang congratu-
lamine half the night after skinning the bear, which
was very fat. Her teeth showed age.

Wednesday, I ^tli April 1 88 1 . — Left at eight, beat the
Buster. Remarked a difference in our condition since
the last time we negotiated him, especially Arthur, the
lawn-tennis handicap having got me in a bit of con-
dition. It was very cold. Upon the men arriving,
Michell reported tracks of a large bouquetin he had
made down to the rocks over the Gave. We lit a fire

200 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

on the prickly bush, and after lunch, instead of beating
the woods along the foot of the precipices and of the
Buster, we went down through the forest to find the
tracks of the bouquetin, and see if we could do anything
with him. We found the tracks after some trouble
and followed them into the rocks, but having left the
dogs at home for rest we could do nothing with him, so
after Celestin and Michell going down and spying, and
us looking from above, we determined to leave him till
to-morrow. The rain came on. Arrived at the cabane
about 6.30.

Thursday, i^th April 1881. — Left the dear old
valley to-day for Bucharo ; just fifteen days in it.
Bag — three bouquetin and one bear.

VALLEE D' ARRAS,
2,otk May 1 88 1.

Packed our traps for the Vallee d'Arras, and started
about 8.30 (the men having started about seven) to make
the low beat on Escusan, a long belt of beech wood
along the Gave and below the bottom precipices. On
my way to my post (in the great couloir which comes
down from Escusan) I met Michell, who was on his way
to see if the large bear, of which the men had got the
tracks quite fresh in the snow, had passed the snow on
his way to the bears' wood, as otherwise he would be in
the high fir wood on the side of Escusan above the
precipices. I was afraid I was rather late in going to
the post, but he said not, so on I went, carrying my
gourd which leaks in my hand. I was much puzzled,
on arriving at the couloir, to know where to place my-
self. Beyond the couloir is a very thick band of wood
running from the precipices to the Gave, a distance of
about 300 yards, the wood beyond this strip being cut ;
the couloir itself is broad, rocky, and much broken, the

vii BEAR-DRIVE 201

trees on it being smashed into bits by the constant
avalanches. It is also exceedingly steep. Owing to
this it was most difficult to find a place from which I
could command the precipices to the Gave. At first I
placed myself about half-way up, and sat there for about
half an hour ; but I was not satisfied, as I did not com-
mand the ground at the foot of the precipices well,
along which, if a bear was in the beat, I thought it
most probable he would come, owing to the very dense
undercover on the band of forest in front of the post.
I accordingly changed and went up nearly to the top,
so that no bear could pass me that way, and I would
be able to fire at anything below me. I had
been about an hour there when along the sides
of the rocks I saw a magnificent old bear come
bounding along, followed by a very small, naked-looking,
little brown cub. The old bear's coat waved in the
wind as she went, the tuft on her shoulders being very
conspicuous. She was up a bit on the rocks at the
foot of the precipices, and as she came to the corner
overlooking the couloir, pulled up for a moment and
looked about her on all sides. She was about 70 yards
off, and I gave her a pill as soon as possible. At the
shot, without a growl, she rolled herself up in a ball,
with her head between her legs, and fell in a lump off
the little cornice she was on into the wood below.
There was no sound afterwards. But I saw the cub for
a second or two hopping about aimlessly and looking
disconsolate, so I seized up three or four cartridges,
loaded again, and slipped down quietly and sat down
on the rocks close to the place she had fallen into.
After about twenty minutes, not hearing anything, I
went to the place the bear had fallen, and found pools
of blood and the impression of her body where she had
hit the ground ; from this the blood led straight down

202 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

the hill, and then turned off to the left into the thick
undercover. At this moment I heard the rush of the
bear going off, so got back on to the rocks of the
couloir. Arthur and I then spied each other across the
Gave, he being posted at the other side ; and I tried to
make out from him if he knew what had happened, and
from his signs I fancied that the bear was dead in the
Gave below, so went half-way down to see, but the place
was so thick and nasty I thought it better to beat a
retreat. After half an hour's more suspense old
Tambell's voice, barking angrily in the middle of the
thicket in front of me, put me on the alert, as I was
sure she had the bear. However, I stood, rifle on full
cock, on the lookout, not knowing at what moment I
might see her rush out towards me. After a bit,
evidently seeing she could make nothing of her ugly
customer, the old bitch came out to me, all her hair on
end. I could not stand it any longer, so went up with
Tambell to the place the bear had fallen, and followed
all the tracks, the dog keeping close, and just in front
of me. It was so thick that I had to go on my hands
and knees in places, and was proceeding in this fashion
when up got the bear close to me and rushed off helter-
skelter, but awfully sick. I blazed at her and crammed
in another cartridge, and fell on my head in my efforts
to follow her. Tambell was sticking close behind her,
almost walking when I last saw her. At this moment
I heard two shots, one from Arthur and one from the
men, from whom I heard cries of delight, and knew that
she was stopped. Getting to the place as fast as I
could, I came on a fine sight, the bear at bay in the
middle of the men and dogs, sitting on her tail and
looking round savagely. I went up within 5 yards
of her, and stood by, rifle on full cock, waiting. As
she seemed to get stronger, and I did not like the

vii THE DEATH 203

look of her, I took Celestin's gun, making him hold
the rifle ready, fired into her shoulder 5 yards off.
Instead of falling, the powerful brute bounded on to her
legs, and for a minute looked very nasty, but by the
time I had taken the rifle she began to get faint again,
and a bullet from it through the shoulders ended her
sufferings. I found Arthur had hit her (a wonderful
shot, at least 400 yards) in the point of the withers,
and the bullet had run round and was lying between
the skin and flesh on the top of the other shoulder
without entering the body, and Celestin had fired a
charge of buck-shot into her face, which had simply
bounded off the skull, some of them entering her chest.
My first ball had entered at the left shoulder and gone
slantingly across and broken two immense holes, out of
one of which protruded part of her liver, and out of the
other some broken bits of ribs. It was an awful wound,
and though she was dying fast, it was wonderful that
she lived as long as she did. She was a very fine
handsome bear, with a lovely coat in perfect order, and
giving very little milk (and not in cub again), which
puzzles me much. We skinned her on the spot, and
found beech mast and cotyledons of beech in her
stomach. The walk to the valley was stifling, but we
arrived at 4.30, and found Jack arranging the house,
and all getting on well. We dined outside, and enjoyed
the splendid view, after having stretched the skin on
the floor of the cabane.

CHAPTER VIII

Trip to Egypt — Stalking Wolves and Foxes in the Desert at Cairo
— Riding down a Wolf — Expedition to Hills near Suez after
Ibex.

AGE 45.

EGYPT, $oth January 1889.

OUT at eight. Rode the donkey as far as third
pyramid. Find the wolves have dug up the donkey
or what is left. Saw the black vulture and eagle
at the horse, which is much eaten. Went along the
rocks and wounded a fox very badly with the gun,
both barrels very long shots, 70 yards. I looked a
long time for it, but without result. On my way home
saw a very fine long-legged buzzard, with a nearly white
head and white tail. A little farther on disturbed a
fox, which I watched go and lie up behind a cairn of
stones. Was in the act of stalking her when I moved
another who merely heard my feet. I squatted, and
when he turned round and sat on his haunches to stare,
he could not make me out. At last he gave it up, and
I got an opportunity and nipped up to a sandy knobby,
and got him as he came round going back to where he
had been lying. He saw me and bolted, but I hit him
very hard with the gun, and ran after him and finished
him with the 360 — a spherical. A very fine old dog-
fox. Sat for the wolves in the afternoon and only saw
a lame fox.

Thursday, 3 ist January. — Disturbed by a dog in the

>SM~ Sst&

em,

>

From a Photograph lyu* Amateur

///.

1888.

WUkeril

CHAP, vni THE DESERT 205

night, so took it easy and did not get up when called
at 5.30. At nine, after breakfast, went to see the horse.
Found the black vulture alone there, but he had done
feeding, and flew away to the crest of the big hill
beyond the bait to repose himself and think. This he,
however, found too windy, as it ruffled his great loose
feathers, so he went away altogether. I must give up
a day to trying to get this fellow. After went to the
rocks where I shot the wolf and saw nothing. Across
to the rocks, and after a bit saw a very handsome fox
going away, slightly disturbed. He had his brush
turned, so I squatted, and when he looked round he
could not find me. He sat down, and at last curled
himself up among some loose limestone rocks in
the open. After giving him as long as I could I got
up and pretended to go away altogether ; but as
soon as I was out of his sight, the wind being very
strong and favourable, I stole quickly up to him in my
lawn-tennis shoes, and shot him stone dead as he
went off. He was a young dog-fox, with a lovely
gray skin.

In the evening watched the pass at the rocks for
wolves, and returned by the bait and saw absolutely
nothing.

Bitterly cold and wind N.W., the worst possible
for the bait.

Friday, 1st February. — Up at 5.30, and out on the
Sheikh ; went round by the Bedouins' Valley, and came
in over the big hill at the bait. Nothing to be seen. I
fancy the wolves must have heard the horse's hoofs
clattering. Took a long ride in the Abooseer direction
and saw nothing but a fox. In the evening watched
the small pass at the rocks, as there were plenty of
fresh tracks there, and I expect the wolves made off
this way this morning. Swept the desert for miles

206 SIR VICTOR BROOKE

CHAP.

towards Geroa-el-Foal and saw nothing, ditto at the bait
which I visited at six o'clock.

EGYPT, 1889.

Red Letter Day, 2nd February, — Breakfasted at
eight, and went round by the bait and the rocks — the
latter for a fox, — but saw nothing at the bait, which
had been much eaten. I found that the majority of
tracks led away towards Abooseer, so, seeing how late
they were coming to the bait, I determined in the
afternoon to take the Sheikh and try a flank move-
ment, and catch them amongst their fastnesses half an
hour or so before dusk, when they would be sure to be
on the move. Accordingly at three the little horse
came round, and I rode off towards Abooseer, entering
the real desert at the spot I had seen the large wolf on
the 28th ult. I stole up the little wadies, cantering
wherever I could save time, and still look the ground
well. I saw tracks here and there, but not a great
many. I had been at this about half an hour, and was
getting near the tableland sort of ridge, when in
cantering up a sandy wady, with low pebbly ridges on
each side, I came suddenly on the top of two wolves.
I was within 50 yards of them. One was sitting on
his tail, with his back to me, at the foot of a conical
knobby, on the top of which the other was lying. I
pulled the horse almost on to his haunches in stopping,
but the wolf on the top of the knobby saw me, and was
round the back like oil. I crammed my spurs into the
Sheikh and rushed for the wolf sitting up, and had
nearly halved the distance when he saw and heard me,
and flew. He went straight up the wady, and I
followed him, and did not lose, but rather gained. Just
as I got to the crest of the hill I saw the other wolf
to my left, quite as near and in better ground, and I
saw at a glance that he was an enormous old wolf,

m

\

vin RIDING A WOLF DOWN 207

with his crest waving as he tore along. This decided
me to clap into him, and the real chase began. The
ground was most favourable for the horse, and the little
fellow flew after the hairy, furious-looking beast, as if
he intended to kill him on his own account ; so keen
was he that he very nearly did for us. The wolf,
finding that he rather lost than gained, turned sharp
round to the left when nearly under the horse's feet,
and as I was in the middle of difficulties with the gun
at this moment, I could not check him from shooting
away past the wolf and losing a lot of ground. In my
exertions the gun went off, luckily in the air, which did
not help matters. However, by nearly throwing him
on his back, I managed to stop and turn my impetuous
little steed, and clapping spurs into him, was soon off
over the ridge the wolf had disappeared behind. Going
for bare life, venire a terre, and trying to load the
empty barrel, catch sight of the wolf, and choose the
best ground all at once. Luckily, as I crossed the first
ridge, I saw the wolf about 100 yards or more ahead
disappear over another, and on arriving at the latter
spot I saw his broad tracks down a wady to the left.
Diving down the narrow little wady 1000 miles an
hour, catch sight of the wolf going hard and strong on
the almost level expanse of desert below, and making
without doubt for the far more broken ground which
lay beyond. I felt it was now neck or nothing ; if
once he gained his point I was beaten ; while, on the
other hand, I felt that if I could keep him in this
grand galloping ground he was crossing my chance was
a good one. I called vigorously on the little game
horse, and stuck the spurs into him in earnest. We
literally flew over the sandy waste, hollows and ridges,
rocks and sand-drifts flew beneath us. At last the
pace began to tell on the wolf; I could see he was

208 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

going heavier, less tongue out, and an expression
of desperation stealing over his robber - like grizzled
countenance. I was so intent upon turning him from
his point that I never attempted to use the gun for fear
of losing direction and thereby ground. One final
desperate spurt, which nearly burst the little nag, and I
had him turned, and away we went again as merrily as
ever back the way we had come. This, however, could
not last ; flesh and blood could not stand it. We had
been going literally as fast as we could cram for
twenty minutes, and something must give way some-
where. Just as I was beginning to fear that that
something would be the Sheikh, without warning and
suddenly the wolf squatted at full length, his nose on
his forefeet and his tail straight out behind him,
panting like a steam-engine. I pulled up as fast as I
could, but not till I had passed him, when up he
jumped, and made off for the hills, his old direction, as
fast as he could. I managed, however, to get one
barrel off at 30 yards, and hit him in the hind legs,
and then, without waiting to fire the second, thrust
after him, and did all that was in me to head him
again. He was getting very much done, and this time
I succeeded much easier, when he began to twist and
turn in all directions. He was a good deal impeded
with his wound, and every now and then turned a
complete somersault. I now felt I had him, and
simply tried to ride him to bay. Shorter and shorter
got his circles, and at last the poor beast pulled up on
a little tableland and faced me, and in the next
moment he was in the happy hunting grounds. Gladly
I gave a loud whoop and sprang from the saddle to
save the gallant little horse who was clean done, and to
examine my prize. It was getting dark, and it was a
long way from home, so I had not long to look at

vin AFTER IBEX 209

him. I found he was an enormous and very old dog-
wolf, tremendously strongly built, with huge shoulders,
head, and neck. He had lost the fourth toe on the
right forefoot in the wars before. He was in grand
condition, and was so heavy, it was with difficulty I got
him to some sand where I could bury him and leave
him for the night. This I did and rode home well
content, and was much congratulated.

Sunday ', $rd March 1889. — Left Cairo with Garstin
in a Khamsin wind by 11.30 train for Tel-el-Kebir.
At Zagazig met Messrs. Vetter (Russian Consul at
Zagazig) and his friend Autrano, who are to accompany
us. On arriving at Tel-el-Kebir at 4 P.M., met the
Sheikh Mavgelli, brother of Abba Sayoud, and his two
sons, about fifteen and seventeen years old, with his
four saker falcons and the camels, and the sheikh's
horse. We got the horses out of train and the camels
packed wonderfully quickly, and started, the sheikh's
tents having gone on before to Abbounashaba, about
7 miles in the desert, where we are to camp for the
night. Ride through the extensive deserted barracks
of the days before our occupation ; they are now roof-
less and in ruins. After getting out of them we
passed the great swamps of Tel-el-Kebir, where I saw
numerous waders which I could not well identify, but
redshanks, and I fancied black-tailed godwits were
amongst them. Shortly after leaving the swamps we
struck the edge of the Arabian desert, and then good-
bye to green for some days. To Abbounashaba and
some distance beyond the desert is covered with
mounds like ant-heaps of varying sizes, each with a
bush on the top of it, and I fancy it is the sand blown
round the bushes and accumulating which gives rise to
these humps. Just as we got near the camping-place,
I saw a falcon of some sort hunting an owl, and

210 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

swooping beautifully. The owl had something (a
quail ?) in his talons. They disappeared, and Vetter
having sent his black man to see what had happened,
he returned with a short-eared owl dead, the entire top
of his head being carried away. Our tents arrived when
it was dark, and we had some trouble pitching them.
Having no cook, we had to do our own dinner, and after-
wards turned on to our mattresses at about nine o'clock.
It was very hot in the night, and with this and the
endless chatter of the Bedouins I hardly slept a wink.

Monday, ^th March. — Up at four. It was very
cold standing about while the tents were being packed,
etc. It was very picturesque to see the old sheikh
sitting at the foot of a mound watching his men
packing, a splendid falcon on his gloved wrist, his
favourite little boy beside him with another falcon on
his wrist. At last we got under weigh, the air clear
and crisp, but very cold. The caravan consisted of ten
camels, three or four exclusively used by Mavgelli, who
had also his horse in case of wishing to change ; five
horses, fifteen Bedouins, and four gazelle dogs. These
latter are miserable, skinny, greyhound-like brutes, and
very savage. As soon as we got through the district
of humps, the desert became much firmer, and stretched
away on all sides of us like a sea. There were
quantities of plants and low bushes, which grew chiefly
in the wadies, owing doubtless to the rain which occa-
sionally flows down them. Heard a bird whistling
most powerfully and sweetly, and on going to see what
it was, found my old friend the desert-loving bifasciated
lark whistling his morning hymns to the rising sun.
Saw also cream - coloured coursers, which generally
happens, I find, wherever their friend the lark is. The
men dug a splendid little fennec fox out of a hole, and
ran him down with the dogs, giving no start. These

vin WANT OF WATER 211

ruffians have not the most elementary ideas of sport,
and rile me dreadfully. The fennec had a very fine
brush, a lovely little head, lustrous eyes for a fox, fawn-
coloured backs to his ears, light-coloured legs. I am
sure I have seen a smaller species and paler in colour,
possibly the South African fennec. I wished to keep
the skull and skin of this one, but it was mutilated past
utility by these sacrilegious scoundrels. About one
we halted for lunch to let the camels come up, who
lagged dreadfully behind us, and also to get the mules,
which we badly wanted. There was not a pick of
shade of any description, and the heat was great. The
sheikh made an impromptu tent out of one of his
Bedouins' robes for his falcons, and we stood it out as
best we could. At last the camels arrived after two
hours' wait, and we drank the filthy water, which was
black with dirt, eagerly. We now kept the camels in
front of us, and had not gone very far before we saw a
large herd of gazelles going off very wild over a branch
of the Geneffe Gebel. It got very cold at nightfall,
and the arrangements were simply disgusting. One
had to struggle in the dark with no assistance with
rugs, mattresses, clothes, guns, etc., all mixed in hope-
less confusion, the only comfort being the reflection
that we were within two and a half hours' of El Webed.
Water was running short, and what there was was
nearly undrinkable, having been taken from the filthy
wells at Abbounashaba to save the lazy fiends of
Bedouins carrying it from the sweet water canal at
Tel-el-Kebir. It was full of mud and sheeps' droppings,
and of course we had no filter. Ordered two camels
to start for fresh water to El Baba, about six hours up
the old line from Cairo to Suez, before light to-morrow.
I slept better, the Bedouins being too tired to chatter
as they did the first night.

212 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

Tuesday, 5 th March. — Another bitterly cold morning.
Garstin and I stopped to see the camels start. Got off
about eight. Found we had been camping on a highish
plateau, hence the cold. Descended some 200 feet
into a flat tract of desert which stretched away to El
Webed, the mountains running directly east and west. I
held straight away for the west end, the sheikh and the
others wasting time in making a long curve to the east
through a tract of bushes, in hopes of raising a hare for
the falcons. This, if orders had been given for the baggage
camels to go straight to the camping-place, would not
have mattered ; but as it was, they followed the sheikh
and wasted at least an hour thereby. At last we
arrived at the camping -place a little before twelve.
While the camels were coming up, the others took shelter
under a rock, but I went off some 300 yards to spy
the precipices which ran along the north side of the
Webed. It is an isolated range, about 6 miles long,
1500 feet high, and cut into gorges and valleys all
more or less steep, and very suitable for any wild goat,
though, on the whole, easy ground. There is no
vegetation whatever, with the exception of lichen on
the ridges, but in all the hollows there are very
aromatic desert plants, these now flowering with red
flowers. There is not a drop of water on the hill, nor
for miles around. I had looked at the precipices in
sight and was resting before spying again, when a black
spot to the right, on one of the nearer ridges, caught my
eye, and on putting up the glass I saw the grandest
old ibex one could wish to see, standing on the sky-
line quite unalarmed and gazing around him. Never
in my life have I seen any horned beast with horns so
out of proportion to his body. I could see he was very
thin, and I am sure he is as old as the hills themselves.
After a minute's survey he turned and went slowly

vin A GRAND IBEX 213

back the way he had come. I whistled to the others
and showed them where I had seen him, and they were
delighted of course. Now came the agony ; naturally I
knew I had the best chance I should ever have in my
life of a real good beden. I was almost sure to get him
before night if I went up at once and found him, which
I could not fail to do, the wind being grand, and then
watch him till he was in a place that I could make certain
of stalking him. I knew all this ; it did not admit of
question. ' In twenty minutes I could have been on
the spot I had seen the ibex standing on, but with a
party, one of four, it was not to be thought of. Plans
that are not to be written in any civilised journal were
proposed during lunch, and I found it very hard to keep
quiet. We had just lit up a weed preparatory to
starting for a beat for the ibex when one of the
Bedouins ran to us to say the old ibex had come back
to take another survey. We all got glasses and rushed
off. There he was, the same hardy old veteran ; not
one rap did he care about us, scratching his ear with
his hind foot and picking the dry lichen as he sauntered
quietly out of sight again. We all fancied he had gone
down into a gorge on the north versant of the hills.
It looked just like it from where we were. Had this
been so our plans were good, if any plans for beating
in such a case can be called good. We told the
Bedouins to remain in camp till they saw us on the sky-
line where the ibex had been, and then beat the gorge
up, i.e. the gorge into which we imagined he had gone,
we taking posts around its head. As I got up near
the place I soon saw all was different to what we had
fancied. A very deep longitudinal valley intersected
the main chain of El Webed into two parallel running
minor chains, the northerly of which, namely that on
which the ibex and we were, being merely a narrow ridge ;

214 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

on the north, the north and south running gorges meet
at its crest, whilst its southern side falls steeply into the
longitudinal valley in little tiers of precipices, and it
was into this latter the ibex had disappeared. This
we found out too late, his fresh bed and deep foot-
prints showing where he had dashed away, doubtless on
seeing some of us mistaken lunatics going to our posts.
We went back to the camp, I very sad at heart, through
the great valley, and found lots of droppings and nearly
every plant cropped by ibex. On getting to the camp
at five, we found the water exhausted, and the horses had
not drunk all day — in fact, had been twenty-four hours
without water. It was simply misery for all — nothing
but tinned nastiness to eat and very little to drink. Just
as we were going to bed the camels turned up from El
Baba, so we went to bed more content, but I was heart-
sore for my ibex.

Wednesday, 6th March. — Woke to find a raging
Khamsin tempest, dust filling the air, and the barometer
falling fast. It was too bad. There was nothing for it,
so we were up at 4.30, and dressed as well as we could,
the tents threatening to be driven away every moment.
Whisky and water and mucky soup, full of sand, for
breakfast, and then we were off, Garstin and I stalking
together (for I had insisted that we had one day's
stalking any way), and Vetter and his friend Autrano
going together. We gave them the valley, best ground,
and we took the north side of the hills. Garstin and I
had tossed for first shot, he winning, but he abso-
lutely insisted on my taking it — too good of him.
However, it was not a day for much aspirations about
shooting, our main object being to keep our feet; on the
tops it was impossible to stand, and we were literally
blown yards along before the gale. Seeing no work
could possibly be done near precipitous ground, we got

VIII

A KHAMSfN WIND 215

down into a branch of the main valley and under a
rock shelter greatly used by bouquetin. Here we sat
till eleven, and lunched. We had hoped the day would
get better, but instead of that it got worse and worse,
the wind shrieked and howled through the mountains,
and the dark, lurid, greenish pall that hung over every-
thing was ghostly. The sand flew about with such
force one could not face it, and had to make a round
to avoid the sand-heaps in the deep wadies. We got
back to the camp at one, and found the men had managed
to re-pitch the tents, and that on a much better place.
There was nothing for it but to cast ourselves on our
beds, close the tents, and sleep. Gradually we were
buried in the drifting sand, which simply defied
expulsion. Towards three o'clock, both Garstin and I
awoke with a headache from the close atmosphere, and
in spite of the wind went out for a stroll along the foot
of the Webed. It certainly is a most tempting hill, the
ground exactly suited to ibex, and still neither too high
nor too bad in any way to work after a bit of local
experience alone. This is absolutely necessary, as a
Bedouin is fit for nothing but slavedom, and has as
much instinct for venery as a chimpanzee. Our first
inquiry on getting back to the tents was for the camels
and water, but no sign, and it really was not to be
expected that they could face this dreadful storm.
The horses were again twenty-four hours without water.
Since Monday night, and this is Wednesday afternoon,
the poor beasts have drunk once, i.e. Tuesday evening.
Towards evening the Khamsin slightly lulled, and the
barometer showed signs of rising. We had a miserable
dinner, and Garstin made up his mind to go to Suez
to-morrow. I did not know what to do, and at first
thought I would try one or two days longer ; but on
going into minutiae, found we were actually at our last

216 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP, vin

loaf, no water, and nothing but a selection of nauseous tins
of sweet biscuits, vinegar-like wine, and garlic sausages
to fall back on. This decided me to make a bolt to-
morrow with Garstin. Just as we were shutting up the
tents, the camels arrived with water which was a matter
of thankfulness ; nevertheless, I was heartily sick of the
entire concern. I knew, until one gets to the hill
under proper conditions, no ibex can be shot on it, and
so stuck to my decision to leave the Webed till some
future day.

Thursday, JtJi March. — Garstin and I left at eight
o'clock with two camels. We passed at first along
under El Webed and thought more and more of the
little hill. It is, we saw, separated from the Attaka
by a plain about 6 miles across. Striking the pilgrims'
road, along which the sacred carpet is carried annually
from Cairo to Mecca, we found nice going and got
along well, though my little nag was very tired. I had
not been able to get him to eat in the morning, and
he was very faint. I induced him to eat some of the
plants as we went along, and walked a good deal from
time to time. It was a very long and dreary trudge,
nothing to greet the eye but sandy ridges and stretches
of pebble-covered sand. At one we lunched under
a very fine prickly acacia-like tree, and then on again.
At about three we came in sight of the white barracks
(now unused) of Suez, and the last three hours, for it
was six before we arrived, across the seemingly endless
flat to the west of Suez was simply purgatory. On
arriving at the sweet water canal it was a relief to give
the poor horses and camels a drink, ditto ourselves.

Found the hotel most grateful. It is very com-
fortable. My bath was coffee - coloured when I had
done with it, and we both slept the sleep of the just.

CHAPTER IX

Palestine — Letters to his Wife, and Extracts from Journal.
AGE 46.

To HIS WIFE.

" MOUNT OF OLIVES,
Sunday, $ist March 1889.

OH ! how I wish that you were here I cannot say.
We are camped just above Gethsemane, which, if right,
must be where He went off a little space to pray, when
He left the three He took up from Gethsemane to watch.
Below, in the Valley of Kedron, and from its very steep
bank, rise the walls of the city. Dear old Trench went
to church, but I, as you can fancy, went to my worship
on the * Mount ' that He so often worshipped on. I was
alone, and went over to Bethany ; on this side it is very
cold and windy ; at Bethany the sun was shining brightly,
and it is impossible to say how intensely peaceful
the tiny little village looked, nestled as it is in the
very bosom of the hills. Beyond stretches in un-
dulating rocky sterile hills, covered however with
vegetation of some kind, the ' wilderness ' which falls
away to the utterly placid, still, Dead Sea, guarded to
the east by the high wall of the mountains of Moab.
It is a marvellous scene and one I can never forget.
Coming back, I came by the way of the triumphal4
entry, and have no doubt Stanley is right in his

218 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

identification, which differs from the traditional site.
It is the way He would come naturally, with a large
procession. I have not been into Jerusalem yet, but we
shall go this afternoon. I really grudge every moment
off Olives. The Plain of Sharon through which we
passed is rich and a real land of promise. It and the
country of the Philistines to its south form a vast plain
some 40 miles across, and beyond rise the mountains
of the ' hill country,' which is very definitely dis-
tinguishable from the plain. Lydda struck me very
much. I should think it was very little altered. All the
villagers were out, it being Friday, in a green field on
a hillside — the children swinging, young people playing
games, and the old people talking, about 2000 of
them ; and in their varied costumes it was most striking.
Emmaus is a gray, ghostly-looking village (very small)
on a bleak hillside. To-morrow we go to Hebron by
Bethlehem, then Mar Saba, then Jericho, and then
back, when I will write again. You cannot tell how
intensely I wish you were with me."

" JERUSALEM,
Saturday, 6th April 1889.

Here we are back again, and I feel as if I had lived
a lifetime since I wrote last. Much as I looked
forward and expected, as you know, I have reaped a
harvest of intense gain that far outstrips my keenest
expectations. It is impossible to give you any idea in a
letter of what overpowering joy it is going through a
country, every scene of which is full of associations,
beside which every interest on this earth can be but
nothing. At Hebron we put up in the Russian
convent (as it was very wet), which immediately
"overlooks the Plain of Mamre, and just below the convent
is a very aged oak. This tree is undoubtedly the

ix PALESTINE 219

descendant of the oak under which Abraham's tent was
pitched when God appeared to him, and is probably one
thousand years old. The morning after our arrival the
Russian pilgrims at sunrise were kneeling round this
tree in prayer, and their soft harmonious chanting stole
away over the Plain of Mamre, and echoed gently from
the rocky hills around.

Machpelah is now in the middle of Hebron (the
oldest city in Palestine, and seven years older than
Memphis), under a beastly mosque which Christians
may not enter. Trench and I offered £12 to be
allowed to go in disguised as Mohammedans, but were
refused. It is about a mile from Mamre, immediately
to the east. Returning, we had a lovely day, and
Bethlehem was most striking as we approached it from
the south-east. It stands out boldly against the sky
on a long, hog -shaped ridge, and the shepherds'
fields and the field of Boaz, where dear little Ruth
gleaned, are just below it in a wide stretch of green,
which is very striking, in the middle of stony mountains
and olive trees, terraced as in Italy. I have lots of
photos, and they will help you to realise it all, but
really to enjoy it, it must be seen. I bring you a little
souvenir from Bethlehem, and Trench and I are
collecting bulbs, in hopes they will grow at Pau.
Anything like the glory of the flowers, ' the lilies of the
field ' — for I am sure it is a generic term as used by
Him — I never saw. It is really a perfect galaxy of
beauty, — red anemones, wild tulips, poppies, marigolds,
daisies, and thousands I don't know. In the fields
they grow amongst the bare spots near the stones.
We stopped at Mar Saba (a very queer old monastery
in a desperate gorge), camped in a very wild spot, and
the next day went through the * wilderness of Judea '
to the Dead Sea. This is not a bit what I expected.

220 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

It is not a bit like a desert, but ' wilderness ' is the
word. It is a succession of wild, lonely, undulating
hills, rather like Largie, no water, but still flowers and
plants becoming more and more tropical everywhere.
The Dead Sea is 1300 feet below the level of the
Mediterranean, and my barometer went quite out of the
marking. There is 25 per cent of salt in the water,
and Trench who bathed could not sink. The sea is
glassy, still, and the mountains of Moab, with Mount
Nebo (one thought of poor Moses), blue and purple,
run like a wall along its eastern side. Then on to the
Jordan, which runs swift and muddy through a belt of
lovely tropical forest. Here or hereabouts Joshua and
his host passed, and both Elijah and Elisha, the former
disappearing from near the same place in the chariot
of fire. We camped on the summit of the mounds
which cover the original Jericho, and I bathed in the
spring which runs from them out of the earth, which
Elisha healed with salt. Yesterday was the day of all.
We left Jericho and passed up the long weary ap-
proach He knew so well through the wilderness to
Bethany. As you leave the plain of the Jordan, the road
runs along the chasm, at the bottom of which runs the
Brook Cherith, where Elijah was fed by the ravens.
Eagles were flying round it, and a wilder spot I never
saw. At length, when we reached Bethany, the idea of
Martha coming out to meet Him is suggested by the very
approach. The house pointed out to us may easily be
the one, and the village is and was so small it cannot be
far wrong, and then the * cave where they laid Him ' is,
one cannot help thinking, the very cave. It is a natural
and very deep cave entered by steps, and the tomb at the
bottom. I doubt if there is another cave at Bethany,
and if not, this must be it. At any rate it is all so
natural, I think there is not much astray, and to think

ix CALVARY 221

it was here He loved to dwell was almost too much for
one. Then we followed the road of His triumphal
entry which is certain. I could almost fancy I heard
the hosannas and saw the crowd. After going to the
camp, which is now opposite the Jaffa Gate, for con-
venience for provisions, we went to see General Gordon's
site of Calvary, and really, it was almost overpowering.
I firmly believe it is the place, and it has escaped all
defilement. It is a high, most conspicuous mound,
singularly the shape of a skull, and well merits the
name of Golgotha. It is the place where criminals
have been executed in historic times, and is just
outside the walls and overlooking the wJiole country
and Jerusalem. To think that here the greatest act in
the history of the universe was acted just knocked one
speechless. I have a photo of it. To-morrow we start
for Singil, then Jenin, and then Nazareth, where we shall
spend all the time we can, and you will hear from
Damascus. Dear old Trench is the very dearest old
boy, so unselfish. We both go to take the sacrament
before we start to-morrow. I am just off now to the
synagogue."

" DAMASCUS,
Easter Sunday, 2.1 st April 1889.

It is hard to know where to begin to write to you
about all I have seen since I last wrote. I have kept
a journal regularly, and that withal I shall always now
be able to tell you of the dear, dear old land, which will
gradually make up a little for you not being able
to see it yourself. All I can tell you is that it has
brought all those old times before me with a life and
substance that far exceeds my most sanguine expecta-
tions, and you know what they are. Bethel, Shiloh,
and all the country through the tribe of Benjamin and
Ephraim I must keep to tell you about, and Jacob's

222 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

well, where undoubtedly our Lord sat and talked to the
woman of Samaria, with Gerizim rising straight above
it, with the ruins of the Temple where 'ye say men
ought to worship ' visible to us as we lunched there,
as the Temple itself was visible to Him, all of this I
must tell you of quietly in detail. We went up
Gerizim, and there saw, according to Stanley (and we
cannot see how he can be mistaken), the very slab of
rock slanting to a deep hole for the blood of victims,
where, in all probability, Abraham made his altar to
offer up Isaac. The view is magnificent from this spot,
perhaps the finest in Palestine. From it Abraham
could see the entire land promised to his seed, the seed
he was about to sacrifice. You can see away to
Hebron on the south, and Hermon on the north, the
sea on the west, and the mountains of Moab, etc., right
up to Hermon on the east. In approaching the moun-
tain from the land of the Philistines through Sharon,
where Abraham had been, he could lift his eyes and
' behold the mountains afar off/ and he knew it well,
for it was there he made his first altar on entering
Palestine years before. Just fancy the trial it must
have been to the grand old man's faith. This slab of
rock has undoubtedly been a place of sacrifice for ages.
Never can I forget the view of the Plain of Esdraelon
as we arrived at the edge of the hills of Samaria
overlooking it. Immediately underneath lies Dothan,
where poor little Joseph was kidnapped by his brothers ;
away stretches the noble plain like a carpet covered
with waving corn. To the east juts up Gilboa. At
the point of the mountain Jezreel was just visible,
near which is of course Naboth's vineyard, and out of
the window of some one house there, that virago
Jezebel was cast, food for dogs. Little Hermon lay
beyond, with Shunem amongst its luxuriant cactus

ix PLAIN OF GENNESARET 223

hedges, where, in the olden times, the woman was so kind
and hospitable to Elisha. All these were full of interest,
but beyond them all, on the north side of the plain,
cradled in its nest of surrounding hill-tops, 1000 feet
above the plain, was Nazareth, the home for thirty
years of the Lord of Glory. It is impossible in words
to express what one feels if one really believes that
these things were so. We stayed one day at Nazareth
and strolled and wandered here and there and every-
where. Every hill slope and every flower upon it and
every song of the birds seemed associated with Him.
He knew and doubtless loved them all, for He, better
than any one, knew their loneliness. But the best of all
was yet to come, and when everything I have ever
seen is dim and almost forgotten, the three entire days
we spent in the ' deep retreat of Galilee,' camped on
the Plain of Gennesaret, will remain fresh and green.
Oh, how I wished that you could be there with me !
It is no idle sentiment that fills one's very heart there.
It simply brims over with recollections of Him. All
sorts of impressions have been formed of the lake itself.
All I can say is, that in itself and for itself I found it
surpassingly lovely ; but there is an inexpressible sadness
about it.

We then came on by the sources of the Jordan
which are most * uncanny,' as it rushes a river clear
and bright from the rocks of Hermon, the mystery of
its birth being only equalled by that of its death in the
Dead Sea, 1300 feet below the level of the sea.
This is a most wonderful old city, situated in a perfect
paradise amongst the surrounding sterility. I went to
the bazaars yesterday with £10 to spend for you and
was most disappointed. Trench and Colonel Fox (who
is a good judge) were with me, and we could see nothing
except old armour, which is fearfully expensive. The

224 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

embroidery affairs are not nearly as good as at Cairo,
and just like them. I will try again, but 'am afraid it is
no good. I am very fit, and we have only had one wet
day. It is blowing hard to-day."

FROM HIS JOURNAL.

Thursday -, 1 1 th. — Rested. Breakfasted at eight, and
afterwards saw the Greek Church where the source of
the spring unquestionably is, and the water is conducted
from this to the present town well, and I fancy on to
the Latin Church. This latter we visited afterwards.
Both claim to show the place where the angel told
Mary of her destiny. A very nice young monk who
spoke French well, belonging to the Latin Church,
showed us Joseph's supposed workshop and the tradi-
tional stone where Jesus ate with the disciples after
His resurrection. Rode to Tabor, lunched on the side,
and Trench and I had a delightful afternoon strolling
up to the summit through the ruins of the old Crusade
Church on the summit and all about over the hill. The
view was bad, as it was dusty from heat ; but we saw
the hill of the " Sermon on the Mount " (Horns of
Hattin) across the Plain of Ard el Hammer, also the
grand Esdraelon plain, with its even fields like a smooth
carpet below us ; little Hermon with Nain, and indis-
tinctly, away into the Jordan valley towards Succoth,
where our Lord was probably baptized by John.
Terebinth, mamre oak, lentiscus, storax, cistus, gentians,
veronica, red and white heather, wild flax, poppies,
hollyhock, with crowds of lovely blue beetles devouring
it, were on all sides. Crested larks, goldfinches, a short-
tail eagle, kestrels, etc. Returned to Nazareth and
rested.

Friday ', 1 2 th. — Left camp at seven. Dreadful heavy
dew in the nights at Nazareth ; everything damp in the

ix SEA OF GALILEE 225

camp. Took our last look at Nazareth, cradled in its
basin of hills, as we crossed over to its N.E. into the
basin which contains Sefurieh, about 4 miles distant,
once the Roman capital of Galilee. It is situated on a
hill strongly placed, and fine olive grounds surrounding
it, and immense cactus hedges, 12 and 16 feet high.
A pond west of the town, surrounded by high cactus,
reminded me of India. Our object was the ruins of
Cana of Galilee (Kana el Jelil), and we had much
trouble to find it, and had to go across corn fields ad
libitum. It is situated on the south side of the moun-
tains to the north of the great Plain of Sefurieh which
stretches away to the west and east of it, more the
latter, becoming in this direction a regular marsh, with
plenty of water, through which many storks were
wading. Kana, " the reedy," came doubtless from
this. It is now a mass of ruins on a rounded hillside,
full in the sun. We found three great wells, from one
of which the pitchers were probably filled at the feast.
Lunched at the head of the swampy east extremity of
the plain, and then passed over the low watershed and
caught our first glimpse of the Sea of Galilee. It
looked simply beautiful, so blue and graceful far below
us, and the wild Galilean hills, with the dim form of the
snowy Hermon, and the purple, straight-topped eastern
hills guarding it. Shortly after commencing the
descent we put up a fine doe gazelle at 50 yards from
a field of corn, surrounded by wild rocky hills. She
made away to the mountains, but I turned her at 200
yards with a revolver bullet of Ibraham's revolver.
The town of Hattin is beautifully situated and most
luxuriant. Gigantic olives, pomegranates, oranges, and
rank masses of wild-flowers, and tall corn all mixed
through each other. We ascended the Horns of
Hattin which rise high behind, and to the S.E. of the

226 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

town, on the east and south, the ascent is only about
60 feet from the Plain of El Hamma, and we easily
found the traditional spot where the Sermon on the
Mount was preached. It is to the north, and is a
wonderfully convenient place to address a multitude.
There is a natural platform which looks like an old
filled-in crater which slants in every direction towards
the slopes of the highest point on Hattin, and this plat-
form would naturally be arrived at on coming up the
pass through the valley of the Doves from the Plain of
Gennesaret. If our Lord had preceded the multitude
with His disciples it would be easy to fancy Him address-
ing them from the platform (which would hold thousands)
that falls down from the summit some 30 or 40 feet, the
lie of the rocks round would act as a sounding board,
and the slant of the platform would enable all to see
and hear Him. Trench read the entire sermon on the
spot aloud. We went then down to Tiberias, which is
about 1000 feet below the Plain of Hattin or El
Hamma, and 607 feet below the sea. The camp
was pitched close to the lake near the hot baths, and
after dinner I smoked my cigar in the cool of the
evening at the door of my tent, looking at the full
moon hanging over the still water and the Big Bear
pointing to the north star up towards the entrance of
the Jordan.

Here is the lovely lake, with the balmy soft air
playing over it. Its banks surrounded by richly
covered slopes and plains, corn growing in profusion a
little inland, and the actual banks clad with flowering
oleander which gives the effect of masses of rhododen-
drons, towering reeds, and flowering plants of all
descriptions. Behind the immediate surroundings of
the lake are the wild and really beautiful Galilean
highlands, and at the head of the lake rises grand old

ix CASTLE OF SUBEIBEH 227

Hermon, 10,000 feet. Here, indeed, are all the
elements which must have possessed a charm very dear to
the heart and mind of Him who made them all. They
are all present still, but where are the towns and
villages through which He moved, doing good to all ?
Where is the busy hum of men — men occupied with the
daily toil of life — which attracted Him here above all
spots for the three years of His great work amongst
mankind ? Where are they ? Gone, absolutely gone,
and their place knows them no more ! The ruins,
buried deep midst beds of the rankest weeds through
which a man can scarcely struggle, may be rightly
identified, and probably they are some of them ; but if
it be so, they lie hidden and almost forgotten. Round
the shores of Galilee a dead silence reigns, broken only
by the cry of a goatherd from time to time. No sail
crosses the blue waters of the Sea of Galilee now ;
desertion, utter abandonment, is the spirit of the place.
Chose a capital camp, and after resting till 3.30,
went to the great source which comes like the other
sources I have alluded to ; born a river at its start,
roaring from the precipice's foot at the back of the
town. It really has a mysterious, uncanny look to see
the river most renowned in all the earth, given birth to
in no tiny rivulet, but in vast powerful streams by the
Holy Mountain, the noble Hermon, sacred from the
days of man's oldest history to the dwellers in Canaan.
Afterwards walked up to the extraordinary castle at
the top of the hill. This is the old castle of Subeibeh,
built partly by Herodian princes, Saracens, and
Crusaders. The ruins, which are magnificent, are
quite as extensive as Windsor Castle ; it is on the very
crest of a most inaccessible hill, 1500 feet above
Bania. The bastions and walls still left are massive to
a degree. Both Trench and I were delighted to find a

Q

228 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

large well of the purest water in one of the vaults, of
which we drank freely.

Thursday r, i %th April. — Saw the old castle well as
we wound our way up the steep ascent on the road to
Kefr Hannar. The road goes round Hermon. Saw a
lovely grove of oak to the east of castle, where was
carried on in olden times the worship of Astarte.
Lunched on the wild plain covered with basaltic walls
to the east of the snowy Hermon. We passed the
curious Druse town of Mejdel-esh-Shems at about the
highest place, probably 4000 feet above sea- level.
The Druses are a very fine set of people physically.
Their religion, which is akin to Mohammedanism, began
I ooo A.D., and they have kept apart ever since. They
say when they are in full war-paint with lance, pistols,
and gaily caparisoned horse leading an armed troop,
the sheikhs looked grand. Their headquarters are at
Hasbeya, west of Hermon, near the upper sources of
the Jordan. It was the Druses who mainly murdered
the Christians at Damascus in 1860, instigated by the
Turks. There were 14,000 Christians killed. Kefr
Hannar is a desolate, lonely place, and very high.
Hermon and Anti-Lebanon rise immediately above.

The approach to Damascus is most striking. All
around is sterile and bare, when through a gorge in the
mountains rushes the Barada, vegetation accompanying
it in its narrow gorge. Emerging it spreads itself out
like a fan, and a garden of Paradise stretches away on
all sides, embracing the city with its groves of walnuts,
sycamores, oranges, etc. etc., through which run spark-
ling brooks in all directions. Damascus is surrounded
by very old walls — in fact, the city is probably about the
oldest inhabited city in the world. After a bath Trench
and I went and strolled through its arched bazaars,
with their shops, khans (buildings for exposing mer-

ix DAMASCUS 229

chandise), Turkish baths, mosques innumerable, with
their parti-coloured walls, and considered it perhaps the
most truly oriental town we have ever seen, and very
free from smells.

Saturday, 2Oth. — Breakfasted at eight, a rest most
welcome. Visited the great mosque with Colonel and
Mrs. Fox, and saw a fine view from the minaret. The
mosque is large, and I suppose fine. It was originally
a Christian church. Went about the bazaars trying
hard to spend £10 for Alice, but could not see a thing
worth carrying home, except a few bits of armour here
and there, for which exorbitant prices are asked. Saw
Ananias's house, where St. Paul went to probably, and
also the supposed place he was let down from the wall
to escape the Jews. A nasty wind and dust all day.
Measured a noble plane tree in the middle of Damascus
— 38 feet circumference, 3 feet from the ground.

Easter Sunday, 2ist April. — Rested thoroughly,
which I felt I wanted, and wrote a long letter to Alice.
In the afternoon bought what I think is a fine suit of
armour, helmet, arm gauntlet, coat of mail, and shield.
The man asked .£33 yesterday, but I got it in the end
for ^i i : i2s. Bitterly cold, have very warm waistcoat
(Lilla's) on and Pyrenean coat. Some little rainfall
to-day.

Monday, 22nd. — Left Damascus at 8.15, and went
round by the little chapel on the hill above the Barada,
from which the view was most striking. No wonder
Mohammed is supposed to have stood at this spot when
a muleteer, and turned away as he could only enter one
Paradise, and did not wish that to be Damascus. The
way the wooded vegetation fans out as the river distri-
butes itself like a fan is most striking, and it stops with
a sharp line suddenly on all sides. The ride on to
Suk was through some most striking sceneiy of its

230 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

kind, the finest I ever saw. One view particularly was
grand. Looking down a narrow valley, at the bottom
or far end of which was the vivid green of the vegeta-
tion accompanying the Barada, rising immediately
above this on each side of the picture are very high
cliffs, ruddy red with shades of blue, cut into the most
fantastic shapes. The cliffs looked like molten bronze.
Behind these and exactly in the centre rises Hermon,
covered with snow. The tout ensemble was most strange,
grand, and to me quite unique. The same character is
carried on to where the high cliff is some 800 or 1000
feet, on the top of which the supposed tomb of Abel
towers over us.

Wednesday 1 2 ^th. — A way at seven, held on to Baalbek.
The valley of Coele Syria is very luxuriant and exten-
sive. The six pillars in the peristyle of the big temple
stand out most prominent long before you arrive at
Baalbek. Lunched in the quarry, where the big stone
is 74 feet (1500 tons), 14 feet square. It was never
cut quite free from the quarry. It was a desperately
hot day, but we went off at once to the Acropolis to
see the temples. They are very grand, but I will not
here describe them, as without photos, which can be
seen elsewhere, it is useless. It is enough to say the
greatest uncertainty hangs over them, even as to their
original names. The first mention is about the third
century. They were probably Phenician temples origin-
ally, the only remains of which are the large dark
stones, from 30 to 68 feet in length, in the north and
west walls of the Acropolis. Then the Romans built
their temples on this substructure, and the transition
from Baal to the sun was simple, as they are nearly
synonymous. The smaller temple is very perfect, con-
sidering its age. They were also largely used as a
citadel in the Middle Ages, and I believe the large

ix CEDARS OF LEBANON 231

temple was once used as a Christian church. Com-
pared all my photos with the ruins, and found them
excellent.

From Baalbek Brooke went to the Cedars of
Lebanon. On first viewing them from a distance they
struck him as looking insignificant, but when among
them their size became apparent.

The average of the eight largest trees is 29 feet 3
inches. They are not high trees, about 80 feet, but
enormously massive and picturesque, their branches
huge in length and thickness.

He reached Berut on the 1st May, terminating a trip
that, I think, gave him more pleasure than any he had
ever made.

CHAPTER X

America — Letters to his Wife, and Extracts from Journal.
AGE 47.

"'GERMANIC,' 1449 MILES FROM IRELAND,

Monday, 1 2th May 1890.

As we are now about half-way across, I begin
my letter, and will finish before getting to New York
on the 1 6th. We have had a glorious passage so
far, and as usual I am as right as a trivet. The
captain is a capital fellow. I went this morning
all over the emigrant part of the ship with him. It
was most interesting. They bring several hundreds
over — Irish, Scandinavians, at £4 apiece with food—
from Norway to New York. On arrival they are taken
in charge by agents and sent off in trains straight to
their destinations. I saw one poor woman with her
little baby, born last night, like a little starved cat,
beside her. She, of course, thought it lovely, and so I
had to admire it to please her. The men and women
are in separate parts of the steerage, and there is a
married quarter apart also. The unmarried girls all
sleep like bottles in a cellar in ' bunks,' only separated
by a lath from each other. They bring their own bed-
clothes, so some of the bunks are much neater than
others, and look quite respectable. I take my jolly
sea-bath at 8.15, and breakfast at 9.30. The food is
very good, and nothing can exceed the civility of all

CHAP, x VOYAGE TO AMERICA 233

hands from the captain down. We have sighted no
icebergs, but there are lots in the track, one 1000 feet
long and 300 feet high, within 800 miles of the Irish
coast, but south of our course. To-morrow, mid-day,
we should have passed all the ice track, and it will be
a great relief to the captain, as they are nasty things to
run against."

" 780 MILES FROM NEW YORK,
Wednesday, i $th May.

We have been steaming along gaily, lovely weather,
a little bothered by fogs, but quite calm. We
passed an iceberg yesterday, but I did not see it,
as it was early in the morning. The Arctic current,
which comes down from Greenland, is most marked,
and the air over it very cold. The thermometer
went down to 37 degrees. It is down this current that
the icebergs float. Yesterday evening we left it, and
ran into the Gulf Stream, which starts from the Gulf of
Mexico, and runs as I have marked it in the little
chart, and the sea changed from 38 degrees mid-day
to 64 degrees in the evening, which shows you what a
definite thing these currents are. I saw gulls out as
far as 800 miles, but none in the mid-ocean at all,
except the stormy petrel, which I saw whirling like a
swift, as happy as can be, bang in the middle of the
Atlantic, I 5 oo miles from land, and playing over the
waves through the drifting foam like a black imp.
Nothing can exceed the kindness of my friend Morse.
Douglas and I like him more and more."

" UNIVERSITY CLUB, NEW YORK,
1 1th May.

We have had a very busy morning, and done a lot of
work. I had only time to scribble an end to my letter

234 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

last night. We were so bothered by fog the last two
days that, though the sea was .as calm as glass, we did
not think we would get in. However, it cleared in
time, and we just managed it. The harbour is very
fine, and worthy of the grand ideas that pervade this
land. There is a colossal statue of Liberty holding up
the torch of Liberty in the middle of the harbour on
one side of New York, and on the other the Brooklyn
Suspension Bridge, under which the tallest masts can
nearly sail — a lovely structure. New York itself looks
very imposing from the sea — immense high buildings of
red brick tastily varied with white, and very green trees,
and the very clearest air I ever saw. Everything
stands out sharply against the sky, and not a particle
of smoke. This is the most striking thing I have seen.
The city itself is very fine, and looks as new as a coin
from the mint. Houses seven, eight, and nine stories ;
the sky a network of wires running in all directions.

Sunday, \$>th. — I write whenever I get a chance.
We dined here last night. It is a capital club ; but in
comparison to London, all the clubs are very small.
To-night we dine with a cousin of Morris Post's, and
to-morrow I have to be ' down town ' (i.e. in the city)
to talk to Cook's people. I shall finish this at Hyde
Park (Mr. Roosevelt's place), where we go by the 3.55
P.M. to-morrow, arriving at 6.30. This afternoon
Douglas and I will take a hansom and drive to see the
Bridge and the Central Park. Four elevated railways
run through the city from north to south the entire
length, and answer to our underground, but are far
better. They run on a kind of bridgework, and you
see all the tram-cars and carriages under you. * Down
town ' is like an ant-heap ; but everywhere is clean, a
clear air, and absolute smokelessness ! It is most strik-
ing. The weather is lovely, sunny, and bracing."

x NEW YORK AND BOSTON 235

"HYDE PARK,
Tuesday, igtk May.

Here we are, on the banks of the Hudson River
which is glorious, wooded cliffs and rolling forests
on each side. Mr. and Mrs. Roosevelt met us
at the station and drove us up here ; so very
kind, and such a dear little house, with a verandah
all round it. The birds, tell Victor, are most extra-
ordinary; it is just like getting into a new planet;
all are absolutely different, and you can recognise the
group they belong to, such as, say, flycatcher, starling,
thrushes, etc., simply by their actions, which are ridi-
culously like their colleagues' in the Old World. We
saw one enormous gray squirrel in Central Park,
New York, on Sunday, driving there. I had a most
satisfactory interview with Cook's man, and have our
tickets for the entire trip, which is 10,000 miles, and
they only cost ^115. I was quite astonished. To-
morrow we go on to Boston by the 6.47 A.M. train. It
is very hot, nearly 70 degrees. I must stop now as
Roosevelt wants to take us down the river. One can
hardly believe all the Indians and game are gone for
ever from these glorious woods."

" SOMERSET CLUB, BOSTON,
T.'ind May.

Arrived in this academical-looking old town, very
happy, and enjoying ourselves immensely. Nothing
could possibly exceed the kindness of Morse. We left
the Roosevelts' at 6 A.M. yesterday, a lovely day, and right
sorry we were to go. If it had been possible I would
have stayed three or four days. They drove us all
about the whole day we were there ; and it is lovely, so
green and peaceful-looking down on the Hudson River,
and the woods full of birds — some crimson, some blue,

236 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

green, and all sorts of colours. Morse met us at the
station on arrival at 4.30, and took us off to the hotel,
where he had most comfortable rooms for us ; he is an
immense favourite with every one here. We dressed,
and had a warm bath, and then had dinner at this club.
So far nothing could exceed the kindness and willing-
ness of every one, high and low. They are independent,
but see in a moment if you are of a friendly nature, and
meet you then more than half-way. It is all people's
fault, I think, if they meet with much incivility. To-
morrow we dine with Morse's eldest brother — a party
of nine men — and I shall meet Agassiz the naturalist,
we met at Flower's years ago. It will be like old
times going over the Museum with him. This after-
noon we went and saw a game at base-ball, the great
American game, and were very interested. It is a
grand game. It is played in a large oval field, with an
immense grand stand like Epsom ; so thousands of
people can watch, and they do, for they take * huge '
interest in it. We leave by the night train, Sunday,
and arrive at Montreal on Monday. From there I
shall be able to give you a sketch of our plans very
nearly as they will be. We have quite given up Alaska."

" MONTREAL,
Tuesday, i^th May.

We have all arranged, and get what they call a state
room to ourselves, and start for Calgary this evening 8.40,
and arrive at Calgary 2.30 A.M. on Sunday. We shall
leave there for Vancouver the roth at 2.30 A.M., arrive
there the 1 2th at 2.30 P.M., and stay there till same hour
next day, when we go to Victoria. There are some
magnificent trees there which I want to see. We then
go straight to San Francisco via Portland, where we
stop for two days, arriving at San Francisco about the

x MONTREAL TO CALGARY 237

24th June. We shall stay about the Yosemite Valley,
etc. etc., for a fortnight. I dined last night with Sir
Donald Smith, a fine old gentleman rather like Darwin,
and got a letter of great use to us to the authorities. I
have just seen the traffic manager, and am to get a lot
of letters from him which will be of use also, so I think
we are paved all the way along. This is a rather
barren, rack -renty- looking place. I went to see the
kennels yesterday, which are really very good and
really well done. The beds in the cars are very good,
but there is little room for luggage in them. Yester-
day I bought a lot of splendid photos which will give
you a grand idea of the country. I am dreadfully
afraid we may have to give up the Zel Constone from
want of time. There is no use hurrying, and there is
such a lot to see ; it is such a vast country, no one who
has not been here can form an idea of it. I heard a
noble sermon in Boston by a Mr. Brooks on the Holy
Spirit, the grandest utterance on the subject I ever
heard, or will hear in this world. He is a Boston man,
and a noble old fellow. It was Whitsunday, hence the
subject. I am just going off to the hotel to pack up
for the four days in car."

" IN THE TRAIN ON PRAIRIES ABOUT 329 MILES FROM CALGARY,
Friday, $otk May.

Here we are, nearly through our longest railway jour-
ney. We arrive at Calgary at 2.30 to-night, and I will
finish and post this there. Considering everything we have
been very comfortable, having most luckily had a draw-
ing-room compartment to ourselves, where we are private.
It is regular pigdom in the other parts of the car, as
it is only divided into imaginary sections, and one wash-
ing-place and a hole to smoke in not fit for a nigger.
I am very much disappointed with the sleeping-cars,

238 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

but the feeding-cars are excellent. One day we had to
go without it and feed in some of the wretched little
shanties near the stations in the middle of the vast
forests we were passing through, and the food was
impossible. From Montreal to Winnipeg you pass
(1400 miles) through endless forests with innumerable
lakes and morasses, the abode of elk, reindeer, and
bears. They are very beautiful in their way, but of
course one gets tired of them. All along the shores
of the noble Lake Superior (360 miles long by 140
broad) is very fine. Wooded promontories jut into
the lake, and precipitous islands stud it, forming lovely
bays'; and one can easily picture the Indians in their
war-paint in the olden days stealing about in their canoes
on the war-path. All are gone now from these parts,
the vices of civilisation having rooted them out, while the
wild game, their companions, still exist in quantities.
These forests are uninhabited except by hunters few
and far between, and there is not a road. At Winnipeg
we stopped yesterday two or three hours, and we went
and examined a very good stuffer's shop, and saw a lot
of the beasts and birds of the country which was most
interesting. It is a very large place now, nearly all
wood, 28,000 inhabitants, and in 1871 there were only
100. After leaving Winnipeg the country changes
entirely. The forests stop absolutely, and in their place
you find flat reclaimed prairie all settled, wood farm-
steads as far as the eye can reach. This goes on for
about 400 miles, when you come to the real prairie.
Imagine an Egyptian desert of the flatter kind covered
with grass and you have a prairie, only for effect the
former beats the latter hands down. The saddest thing
is to see the buffalo tracks like sheep pads in all direc-
tions traversing the prairie, however always from north
to south, as they used to go in their migrations like the

THE PtfAIRIES 239

swallows, north and south, summer and winter, and their
poor old bones lying bleaching in thousands all over the
place, not one left !

The very last station we passed, there were several
huge piles of their bones which had been collected for
transport by the railway for manure. We have Mr.
White, the General Manager of the Canadian Pacific,
with us in the train, and he has strongly advised us to
stop a day at Banff just after entering the Rockies, and
will send us up on a freight train on Tuesday, loth
June, if we like. We have settled to do this, as it will
be well worth while. We shall stay there the 1 1 th, and
go to Glacier House on the Selkirks the 1 2th ; stay there
1 3th, and go to Vancouver i/jlh; get there 2.30 P.M.,
i 5th ; leave the afternoon of 1 6th for Victoria by steamer ;
get there that evening ; stay a day there. These are all
nice short journeys and lots to see. I do not find it a
bit tiring travelling, and am fresher than when I left ;
never felt better in my life. Dear old Douglas takes
the greatest care of me, and is very fit too."

" CALGARY,
Sunday r, ist June.

Got here all right last night, and had a sleep at
the really very good Stone Hotel. This morning it
was raining and misty, a most unusual thing. We had
breakfast and a smoke in the kind of hall with cowboys
and ranchemen — such a medley. No word from
Stimson (manager of one of the ranches near Calgary),
but we hear he is to be out to-morrow, and we shall
then certainly go up to see the ranches. I am sure
this is a place that is going to ' boom ' like mad, and
fortunes will be made here. We have been for a
drive all over the place with Mr. Alexander, who is a
real good fellow. I like him."

240 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

"CALGARY, indjune.

This morning it was glorious ; the air reminded
me of the desert. It is just the same strong, pure
air, blowing over the prairies. Douglas and I went
off to fish and caught two trout. The view of the
Rockies is very like the Pyrenees, oiily from here not
so fine. To-morrow, I think, Douglas and I will drive
out to the ranches for two or three days. This is
a very funny place and would amuse you. You
see nothing but cowboys and ranchemen in the
roughest costumes lolling about round the bar, and a
more illiterate-looking lot you never saw. It is no life
for any one, but a failure in civilised countries, and still
it takes cuteness to get on here too. The place is
growing very fast, and it will be all settled in ten years,
and Calgary a large town."

"CALGARY,

We are back from the ranches after the most
delightful time ; I would not have missed it for any-
thing. We went to three ranches, one of which was
Stimson's. I never met with more kindness, and
found I was quite at a premium, as they are the least
opinionated people I ever met, and were very glad to
get one's opinion about the breeding, etc. On the
old ranches the life is still very rough, as they are
regular old squatters, but you can make yourself com-
fortable. The air is simply heavenly on the prairies,
exactly like desert air, very dry, and the sun is hot
enough for you. Douglas and I hired a trap which they
call a * democrat,' a four-wheeled thing, very light and
immensely strong, and two horses and no one with us,
and drove away from ranche to ranche. There is

x FROM RANCHE TO RANCHE 241

nothing in the shape of a road, merely a trail, and the
places you drive up and down are astonishing. Unless
you saw it, one could not believe it. I am sure the
horse ranches will eventually pay, and the young stock,
nearly thoroughbred, that have run wild in the prairies
are better than our stock at home that have had corn
all winter. To-morrow we go to Banff to stay a day,
and then on to Glacier House for a day, and then Van-
couver. I have bought a lot of Indian bead-work which
will delight you. I am very fit, and feel like the old
times in the desert."

" BETWEEN VANCOUVER AND VICTORIA,
Sunday, \$th June.

Since I wrote from Calgary we have been hard
at work and seen a great deal. We stayed two days
at Banff, which is a lovely spot in the heart of the
Rockies. One day we went to the Devil's Lake
(Minnewauka) to fish, and caught only one trout, but
had a glorious row of about 7 miles up and down the
lake, which is very wild and lovely. We left Banff
at 6.25 Friday morning, and came right through to
Vancouver without stopping, arriving yesterday at 2.30
P.M. The scenery across the Rockies, the Selkirks, the
Gold Range, and lastly, the Cascade Mountain, is very
fine. What interested me most were the trees as we
gradually got westward, and there is no doubt British
Columbia is the home of the conifers. How often I
thought of dear old Powerscourt ; he would go cracked
if he got into the Stanley Park at Vancouver. It is
really a bit of the forest which covers the entire face of
the country, which here runs into a blunt promontory
into the sea. It is just like a fairy land. Enormous
giants of trees crowding each other, measuring from 20 to
40 feet round, and from 200 to 300 feet high. Ospreys,

242 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

one of the wildest of all birds of prey, build their nests
on the tops of the withered stumps of some of the dead
trees, 200 feet from the ground, 50 or 100 feet of the
tree having fallen off. At the feet of these old veterans,
younger trees grow in profusion of all sizes, and at their
feet again, and all round, there is a sea of ferns and other
undergrowth. I spent all my time in this place measur-
ing, etc., as you can imagine. I counted two hundred
and sixty-seven rings on one tree of moderate growth,
which shows the tree was about three hundred years
old, and I believe some of them were standing when
William the Conqueror came to England ! Vancouver
did not exist in 1886, the site being, like all the
surrounding country, covered with forests. It is mostly
wooden houses even now, but has an air of well-to-do
about it. Every one is most casual in this part of the
world ; but I have never yet found the incivility. They
are all very blunt in manner, but very decent people.
I am not quite sure what we shall do, but, I think, go
on from Victoria to-morrow at 8 A.M., and get to Port-
land in the daytime and have a good night on board,
and then leave Portland the following day for San
Francisco."

" VICTORIA,
Monday ', \bthjune.

I found your two letters here, and one from
Victor. Fancy your not having yet got my first
letter from America, and it is now a month since
we landed. However, it is all right now, and by
the time you get this we shall have turned our faces
homeward. I shall be glad to get to my nest
again. The people in these western parts are all very
civil, but seem to me to be wonderfully slow of com-
prehension, and daft. We go by the boat to-night to

V//- I rrh>r • s )><{*&& -e .

1890.

FURTHER PLANS 243

Tacoma, and arrive at Portland 3.15 to-morrow, leave
the next day at 4 P.M., and arrive Friday early (two
nights and one day). All these western towns are very
primitive, mostly built of wood, and all much smaller
than I expected. It is not a bit warm, rather what you
would call cold. I am really very fit, and enjoying
myself immensely. Douglas is very well, and learning
a lot right and left. From San Francisco we shall
go to Salt Lake, Denver, and Cheyenne."

" PORTLAND,
Thursday •, igtk June.

I got your wire here to say you were safe at Puys,
and was so thankful, and have just sent one from here,
care of English Consul, Dieppe, and I hope you got
it. I got the photo this morning. It is not wonder-
ful the other is sad, when I was told to look at you,
and my thoughts were full of leaving you so soon
—no one knows what it cost me ; but I really
think it right with all the boys to know things for
oneself, and now, please God, it will soon be over
and done. I am not sure about our plans after San
Francisco. If I get an encouraging letter from White-
house, we shall give up the Yellowstone Park and go
to him. It would be most interesting comparing the
Wyoming ranches with those of Alberta ; and in this
case I have a great deal I want to see round San Fran-
cisco, in the way of horses also ; all well worth visiting.
If not, we shall go to the Yosemite, and return to San
Francisco, and then go to the Yellowstone. I will wire
what we do from San Francisco. This is a very luxuriant
place, fruit growing in profusion all through the town ;
but there are far too many trees for you and too much
damp. It rains off and on, 'a sweet, refreshing rain/
but it has a beauty of its own. We leave at four this

R

244 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

afternoon, and have the drawing-room compartment to
ourselves. This is Thursday, and we arrive/ at San
Francisco on Saturday at 7.45 A.M., so it is only two
nights and one day. There is a dining-car attached
to the train, so the food is not bad at all. This is a
capital hotel ; all nigger servants, and very good they
are. I have a photo of it ; in fact, I shall have such
a photo book, or books, as you never saw before. It
will really be a grand book. All the scenery is mag-
nificent, one noble mountain after another. The two
best we pass now on our way south are Mount Hood,
about 13,000, and Mount Shasta, over 14,000. I have
photos of all these, and photos of all the finest parts
of the Canadian Pacific. I have also a great collection
of photos of Indians, braves, medicine men, etc. It is
warm weather, but not a bit hot, thermometer only
about 65 degrees ; but I fancy it will be hotter farther
south. I find these western Americans are much the
stamp of Irish squireens. They are, in comparison to
the eastern Yankees, very slow of comprehension ; in
fact, decidedly stupid people, and their roughness of
manner arises chiefly from rank ignorance. One finds
oneself treating them all as an embryonic people in a
state of childhood. We were lucky enough to see
Schaefer, the champion American billiard player, last
night. He played grandly. The game was in a huge
wooden barrack called the pavilion, and the company,
a rough-looking lot, was most orderly. We enjoyed it
very much. At San Francisco I hope very much to
see some of their trotting races. This is, of course,
an absolutely American institution, and is really
wonderful. The best time so far on record is a mile
in two minutes eight seconds ! as fast as an ordinary
train. It is really marvellous. What a lot I shall
have to tell you ! "

SAN FRANCISCO 245

% " SAN FRANCISCO, Sunday, -z-znd June.

Arrived here all safe yesterday morning. It is the
coldest place I ever was in, and exactly like Genoa —
bright sun and high wind and clouds of dust. Ther-
mometer about 65 degrees. After lunch we took the
cable car yesterday, and went to Cliff House, about
6 miles away, visiting the Golden Park on the way,
a nicely-kept pleasure ground. At Cliff House we
saw hundreds of sea-lions, a kind of seal, basking on
the rocks in the Pacific in perfect security and enjoy-
ing the hot sun and villainous wind. I came back and
put on all my warmest things, including the red waist-
coat. I think to-morrow we shall go to Santa Cruz,
which I hear is lovely, and one sees lots of large trees,
which I am cracked about. On Tuesday at 4 P.M. we
start for Yosemite, train till 6 A.M. (Wednesday) ; then
a drive of ten hours on stage coach to Wawona, sleep
there, and reach the valley at noon next day (Thurs-
day). Remain in the valley Friday and Saturday, and
return to Wawona early Sunday, and visit the Welling-
tonia that afternoon. Leave at 6.30 A.M., Monday, and
take all day driving to Raymond, where we take the
train, and arrive here at 10.45 A.M., Tuesday, 1st July.
The next day we go to see Governor Stanford's
renowned trotting establishment with Mr. Lathrop, the
manager, who is in this hotel, and most kind. I have
not yet decided what we shall do about the Yellowstone
Park, as I found no letter from Whitehouse. This is a
most extraordinary city, built on the steepest hills, and
the streets are so steep there are sort of steps for your feet,
and a horse can hardly go up them. Cable cars run up
and down them gaily, and it looks very dangerous, but is
really safe, the system of drags is so powerful. I must
shut up now, but will write on Tuesday before starting."

246 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

"SAN FRANCISCO, Tuesday,

We have just got ready with very light baggage,

and start for the Yosemite at 3.30. We train till

6 A.M. to-morrow ; drive all Wednesday to a place

called Wawona ; sleep there, reach the valley about

noon, Thursday, and remain in it till Sunday morning,

when we drive back to Wawona ; visit the big trees

that afternoon, and return that night here, arriving,

that is, 1st July. We have given up the Yellowstone,

and go to Monterey, about 80 miles south of this, on

the 2nd. It is a lovely place, and I want to see the

different pines of the country, and to do that one must

dodge about a bit, and it is, I hear, a lovely place all

about. We shall leave San Francisco on the 7th July

for homewards, arrive at Salt Lake City, pth, early.

Leave late on the loth, and go to Colorado Springs,

where we arrive on the I ith ; stay there I2th and

1 3th, and on I4th go to Denver; leave next day for

Cheyenne, and spend a week with Whitehouse ; then

go on to Omatia on 22nd, and three or four days with

Toby Cairnes on his ranche, near the Black Hills in

South Dakota. Arrive at Chicago on 28th ; stay there

two days; arrive Niagara by 1st; stay there a day,

and get to New York on the 3rd, and sail in the

Teutonic on the 6th ; arrive Liverpool about the

1 3th August, so I should be with you about the

1 5th. I shall be glad to get to the dear old nest

again after all our wanderings. We shall have been

about 1 6,000 miles ! This is the very vilest climate

I ever saw, and does not improve. I am very fit,

and weigh 12 stone 12 Ibs., but I take great care

here of the cold. I am also taking it very quietly

travelling, and, after this Yosemite trip, have nothing

but easy journeys, though it sounds big on paper.

x A CHINESE RESTAURANT 247

We went all over the Chinese quarter last night,
and it was very interesting. There are quite 40,000
Chinese, and one would think one was in China. I was
astonished at one of their restaurants, where we went
and got a cup of their tea which kept us both awake
half the night. It is a magnificent house, and several of
the Chinese at little tables, with the tiniest of cups and
saucers, huge spoons, and their characteristic chop-
sticks, looked so fairy-like ; the centre of the table
full of fruit ; magnificent massive chairs, and all the
furniture very rich. We also went to one of their
theatres, and were shown on to the stage and given chairs
there. The theatre was crammed with Chinese. The
acting was vigorous, and the noise of clanging music,
which never stopped, distracting. Every one smoked,
the orchestra and all, except the actors. The dresses
were gorgeous. We then visited some miserable dens,
where the poor wretches were lying half-dead, smoking
opium, and the stench was sickening. They looked
more dead than alive, and were little more than skele-
tons. We also visited a Joss House or Temple, and
saw their various idols in niches, like a Roman Catholic
altar, and incense burning before their gods. I have
got some glorious photos — some for framing, too good
for a book. I have one of the large trees at Felton,
near Monterey. It will make a lovely picture."

FROM HIS JOURNAL.

Thursday -, 26th June. — A lovely fresh morning. Up
at 5.30, and off on the stage for the Yosemite at seven.
Crossing the river, close to the hotel, we saw our first
Abies douglasii. The road rises at once, and was
covered with tracks of coyotes and foxes. Saw several
quail very tame, and woodpeckers, etc. Forest chiefly

248 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

P. ponderosa, and the same cypress, which certainly
gets bigger the higher you go. Some grand sugar
pines. One fallen tree measured 20 feet circumfer-
ence, and the trunk 60 yards : allowing 20 feet for
the top, which was missing, cut off, would make it
200 feet high. Distinguished the difference between
Picea grandis and Nordmann's fir. The former is
slightly darker, and has the needles much more distinctly
compressed from above downwards. Ditto the entire
branch. It is found at a higher elevation. Both trees
attain about the same size as very large silvers, not
bigger. Passed two high ridges going to the valley ; the
highest about 6000 feet. The view of the great valley
from the Point, where you first look into it, is, I think,
disappointing. In comparison to the Vallee d' Arras,
it is more broken at the side, and wider, the precipices,
which are magnificent, not being nearly so continuous,
and giving the valley a less wild appearance. The
rocks are granite, which also makes a great differ-
ence in the appearance. El Capitan, the Bridal Veil,
the Sentinel, and the Half Dome are the most striking
features. The butterflies in Yosemite are very striking.
Some lovely kinds, like our Tortoiseshells and Fritil-
laries, and one, the commonest, a very fine insect, with
yellow tips to its wings, a white diagonal band on
each wing through the purple, and a vivid crimson
streak like a hair above it. They flit about on all
sides. Some very grand swallow-tails, larger than our
European kinds. A. douglasii is the common fir of
the valley, with the cypress. The former grows very
fine, with a remarkably rough bark ; but it is not a
very high tree here at all, 170 or 180 feet. Measured
an A. douglasii near the bridge to Mirror Lake, 27
feet 6 inches circumference, and a grand Ponderosa^
20 feet 6 inches. Abies douglasii clings greatly to

THE YOSEMITE 249

the neighbourhood of water, though it is found else-
where. Walked to still, deep, and cold little Mirror
Lake after lunch, with the noble cliff of the Half Dome
overshadowing it.

Friday, 27 'th June. — Slept very sound ; up at seven.
After breakfast Douglas and I walked to the Vernal
Falls, and beyond towards the Nevada. It was a
lovely morning, and delightful walking through the
forests of Ponderosa and Douglasii. The latter follows
the river right up to the Nevada Falls. Nearly walked
on a rattlesnake, which went to its hole rattling. The
Vernal Falls, as seen from the wooden bridge across
the river below them, are very fine. A bold rich fall,
lined with the green fir trees on each side ; " a cataract
of diamonds," as the Indians called it. In the afternoon
took a trap and drove round the valley. The Yosemite
Falls from below, and close, are really grand, an im-
mense volume of water. In like manner the Capitan
is immense, and no photo gives an idea. The Virgin's
Tears Fall, beyond El Capitan, is lovely, and breaks
into spray, the fall never reaching the ground. The
Bridal Veil Fall's rainbow is very striking. The
Douglas firs at this end of the valley are immense.

Saturday, 28//Z June. — Rode down the valley to
Bridal Veil Bridge, and made the following measure-
ments : —

Pinus ponder osa — 1 8 ft. 6 in. ; 19 ft. ; 20 ft. 2 in. ;
20 ft. ; 20 ft. 6 in. ; 19 in. ; 22 ft. 6 in.

Cupressus decurrens — 28 ft. (31 ft. at ground); 22
ft. ; 24 ft. ; 22 ft. 6 in.

A. douglasii — 20 ft; 20 ft; 25 ft 3 in.; 20 ft.
6 in. ; 27 ft. 6 in.

Pinus lambertiana (sugar pine) — 28 ft. 5 in. ; 24
ft. ; 23 ft ; 24 ft ; 23 ft 6 in. ; 29 ft (Uncle Tom).

Picea grandis — 1 6 ft. 3 in.

250 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

Rested in the afternoon. Dreadfully hot, 80 degrees
in shade. Douglas killed a rattlesnake which lay
rattling at us in the road, and did not attempt to
move till he had got down, found a stick, and killed
it. It measured 3 feet 3 inches. The largest Mebzesu
are all near the rivers. Their bark is very rough and
their foliage wiry. P. ponderosa is a fine round pine,
and only just inferior to Pinus lambertiana. In the
evening saw Mr. Clark, the guardian of the valley, and
discoverer of the Mariposa grove of Wellingtonia.
He is a very intelligent and dear old man of seventy-
four. He put us right about P. ponderosa^ which I had
hitherto taken for P. insignis, which, however, is found
on the Coast Range. Mr. Clark also told us that a
two-leaved Pinus we found in the evening, strolling
down to the camping ground, is Pinus contorta, found
high in the hills, and higher than this Pinus tuberculata
and P. flexilis. He is evidently puzzled about Picea
grandis and P. nordmanniana, and seems to think this
last is P. amabilis of naturalists, found higher up than P.
grandis ) whose true name he believes to be P. concolor.
They are certainly puzzling, and every step is found
in these forests between the flattened, definite foliage
of grandis and the thicker and greater foliage of Picea
nordmanniana.

Sunday, 2gth June. — Up at 4.45 and started from
Wawona at 6 A.M. A glorious morning, but it got
hotter and hotter during the 26-mile drive. It was, not-
withstanding, heavenly driving through these primeval
and noble forests, composed of trees, hundreds of which
measured over 20 feet in circumference, and 200 feet
in height. The eye gets saturated with these columnar
structures on all sides. We have three changes of
horses to Wawona, and two high ridges to pass.
Arrived at twelve at Wawona and were soon off on

THE BIG TREES 251

horseback with " Pike " (N.B. Phillyis) for the grove,
about 6 miles distant, and 6500 feet high. The first
ridge on which they (the big trees) are found is covered
with noble trees of P. larnbertiana, P. ponderosa, and
Picea grandis, and at last you come suddenly and with-
out warning on the great red columns of the mighty
trees. They are a race of glorious giants standing
monstrous amongst monster forests, and dwarfing all
around them. No words can describe the effect of
these trees ; they are too enormous to be realised.
The two things that struck me most were, the richness
of the colouring of their ruddy bark, and the depth of
their dark green foliage growing from branches as old
as the hills themselves. They have very few branches,
none, in fact, for at least I oo or 150 feet, and carry
their gigantic thickness up to near their summits. For
example, " Andrew Johnston," who now lies dead,
measures 30 feet in circumference 120 feet from the
ground, where he never measured more than 55 or 60
feet. From this, that greatest and most venerable of
trees, the Grizzly Giant, which measures 100 feet in
circumference at the ground, must measure 60 feet at
100 feet. This noble old tree is in the lower grove,
and he is literally gray from age. Rode back by
" Uncle Tom's Cabin," a sugar pine, the best we have
seen, 29 feet at 4 feet from the ground. Saw a skunk
wandering about on the way home but left him alone,
though he was very tame, and killed another rattlesnake.
Visited Mr. Hill's studio in the evening.

To HIS WIFE.

" SAN FRANCISCO, Tuesday, \stjuly.
We are back from the great valley and have enjoyed
ourselves beyond description. It is a very rough drive

252 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

there — 39 miles the first and 26 the next, over villainous
bad roads in a vehicle called a stage-coach, four horses.
Carries twelve, with a high box seat which we secured.
It should be called a bone-shaker, for it jolts one up
and down and all over the place. The road runs
along the sides of precipices, and the drivers go along
apparently regardless of all danger. The food at the
hotels is execrable, and the companions all western
Americans. This is the bad side, but no words can
describe the good side. You will remember my mania
for pines long ago at Powerscourt and my great studies
of dear old P.'s books. Well, fancy my joy driving for
days through the homes of these noble trees, gazing
right and left at trees rearing their heads on mighty
columns 20 and 25 feet in circumference on all sides of
us. Then the great interest of making out what they
were, for I can assure you the difference between an
infant pine in a pleasure ground of twenty or thirty years
old and a veteran of the same tree in his native home,
five hundred years old and 250 feet high, is very great.
To give you one instance, as we got higher into the
mountains, we came across a very noble true pine, the
monarch of the forests he grew in. I knew I was
familiar with his foliage, but for a long time could not
make him out. His cones are from I foot to 20 inches.
At last it dawned on me, and what was he but Pinus
lambertiana^ the pine of which we cut down so many
at the Jouvence, and of which we have left one. It is
the grandest tree you ever saw. But all these giants
were dwarfed when we came to the 'big trees,' i.e.
the Wellingtonia, on Sunday. When I tell you that
the * Grizzly Giant ' stands on the same ground as the
Jouvence, you can fancy something of his size. I have
written a full account in my Journal which you will see.
There are about six hundred of these old monsters, and

MONTEREY AND THE ARIZONA GARDEN 253

you leave them as suddenly as you come upon them, and
then no more is seen of them. Of course I have photos
ad nauseam of them and the valley, which is run very
hard by the Valle'e d'Arras (on the Spanish side of the
Pyrenees), but no photos can give an idea of what they
are. To-morrow we go to Monterey to see some very
fine trees there of a different kind, and as I will be able
to write in two days or so, I will shut up now as I have
a lot of packing to do. I get very homesick at times
and count the days till we shall be back, like a school-
boy. However, it won't be long now, please God.
Kiss all the wee things for me, and love from Douglas,
who is such a comfort."

"HOTEL DEL MONTE, MONTEREY,

We are here in one of the loveliest places on the earth.
It makes me quite ache to think how you would enjoy
it, and also my dear old mother. It is really too
beautiful to describe. This hotel, which is immense and
has now in it about seven hundred guests, is kept up just
like Hurlingham or any first-class sporting English
club. It is very well managed, and the cooking excel-
lent. The gardens and pleasure-grounds are really a
fairy land. Some tennis grounds, bowling alleys, lakes
with boats, all kinds of driving traps ad libitum. The
most lovely spot is, however, the ' Arizona Garden/
which is given up to plants from Arizona in the tropics,
and is full of palms, enormous cacti and aloes, and
innumerable flowers ; amongst the cacti, what the
western Yanks call modestly the ' boss cactus of the
world,' a huge plant that grows 40 and 50 feet high.
But the chief glory of the Arizona Gardens is the
humming birds ! which are in quantities. Words
cannot possibly convey an idea of the loveliness of

254 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

these most tiny little beings. The first we saw we
took for hawk moths, as they darted like living flashes
from one flower to another, poising themselves with
beats of the wing, whose swiftness defies the eye, in
front of some gaudy flowers, from which they extract
the nectar with their long bills and tongues. As they
are so occupied within a few feet of the eye, for they
are very tame, gleams of ruby, gold, and emerald green
glitter and disappear as the sunlight plays on their
throats, crests, and backs, the feathers of which parts
are coloured with metallic tints of all colours of the
rainbow. What you would like would be the drive of
about 1 6 or 1 8 miles (there and back) through the
pine forests to ' Cypress Point,' the southern extremity
of Monterey Bay. The drive through the pines is
delightful, warm, and the air saturated with the
fragrance of the pines. Suddenly you emerge from
the forest on to the beach of the Pacific. The blue
ripple of the waves plays lazily on to the snow-white
sands of the shore, after washing round rugged rocks
jutting out of the sea some 200 yards off, which are
literally covered with enormous sea-lions, whose roaring
sounds loud above the surf. Quantities of seals are
fishing here and there through the bays, looking at you
within 50 yards with their large mournful eyes. On
the rocks amongst the lions are hundreds of gulls,
skuas, pelicans, and cormorants, evidently on the best
terms of friendship with their gigantic neighbours.
Douglas and I went yesterday for the first time, and
to-day repeated it, with a basket of lunch, and spent
all the day there. The end of the Point is celebrated
for a grove of cypress of great age, and I find the
species is C. macrocarpa, a very old friend of mine and
Powerscourt's. It grows into a most picturesque old
tree, reminding one of the cedars of Lebanon. This place

x FAIR WOMEN AND BEAUTIFUL DUDES 255

is the great amusement quarters of the swells of San
Francisco and Oakland, and this being just the 4th
July time, the anniversary of American liberty, it is
a national time of rejoicing. There is a very fine band
here, which amongst other music played " God Save
the Queen " yesterday (the 4th), to the evident satisfac-
tion of the audience ! There are any number of fair
women and beautiful ' dudes ' amongst the crowd, and
it would be endless delight to you to study them all.
Some of the costumes are simply ludicrous. There
appear, on the other hand, to be some very nice
people in the hotel, but they are all local, and out of
the 167! who arrived when we did, we are the only
English ; all the rest are from San Francisco, only one
from New York. To-morrow we go to Santa Cruz for
one night to see some magnificent trees of a kind we
have not yet seen, and return to San Francisco next
day, and the next leave homewards for Salt Lake City.
Dear old Douglas looks after me like a nurse ; he is
the best old boy in the world."

"SAN FRANCISCO, Tuesday, %th July.
We arrived back here last night, having spent
Sunday night at a lovely seaside place, Santa Cruz.
It reminded me of the dear old days at Veules,1 to
hear the sea beating on the shore close to the hotel at
night, and I thought that the next time I heard it
would be with you again 6000 miles away at Puys.
Next morning we hired a trap and drove through the
most heavenly forests to Big Tree Station, a little tiny
place in the middle of the densest and noblest forest of
a grand tree called Taxodium sempervirens, which we
had not yet seen. They do not come up to the
Wellingtonia in thickness, but are even higher. We

1 Seaside place in Normandy.

256 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

spent several hours wandering about the grove, and
then came on by the narrow-gauge line here, four hours
of about as great misery as I ever suffered. The train
was rilled to overflowing, a sort of mixture of Bank
Holiday in London and the 1 2th of July in Ireland !
There were sixty-five people in our carriage, and what
between the heat, the slamming of doors by noisy
officials and newspaper boys, the yells and whistles
with infernal machines in the mouths of innumerable
children, the danger of having your toes trodden on, or
getting deluged with water by little children carrying
drinks of ice-water up and down the carriage, life was
indeed a burden. However, ' at last it ringeth to
evensong.' Whom should I meet waiting for me on
arrival but dear old Cherrie Bancroft ! She is one of
the gems of the earth that will shine bright some day.
She is enthusiastic about the convict prison here, and
is doing wonderful work where the labourers are
mighty few. And now I must shut up and pack. We
are off to Salt Lake, about 800 miles, to-night. I am
very fit, and don't cough nearly as much either morn-
ing or evening ; in fact, hardly at all at night."

"SALT LAKE CITY, Wednesday, gfh July.
I must send one line from here to say that neither
Douglas nor I will become Mormons. I have only time
for a scribble. This is a most remarkable place, and
after crossing the Sierra Nevada at an altitude of 7000
feet, we descended on a high plateau 4000 feet, the
Great Nevada desert greatly resembling the Egyptian
deserts, which we crossed 600 miles. Such desolation.
Salt Lake is an immense sheet of water 90 miles by
40, and is very like the Dead Sea. We have been to
see the Tabernacle and Temple of the Mormons ; the
former is a wonderful building, seating 10,000 people.

x HOMEWARD BOUND 257

I have excellent photos, which explain better than
writing ; and I will be able to tell you all about their
religion, which is nothing but distorted Christianity.
They have immense power here, but the Yanks are
gradually getting the mastery over them. They really
would be a source of great trouble in a weak-kneed
country like England, but over this side of the water
they stand no nonsense. It is pretty hot, between 80
and 90, but I fancy we shall have it a real terror after
Denver. We leave to-morrow at 10.30, and should
arrive at Colorado Springs at 4.30 P.M. Saturday. I
am 900 miles nearer you than when I last wrote."

"COLORADO SPRINGS, Tuesday > i$th July.
I can, and did, fancy your joy in getting my wire
to say we were coming by the boat of the 3Oth inst.
The heat coming from Salt Lake City was so terrible
— 115 degrees in sun, and 93 to 102 degrees in the
railway — that I decided at once to run no risks of the
exhausting effects of such heat and to bolt home.
Accordingly I wired all over the place, and have
written to Butler to come to Chicago (as I have given
up Whitehouse), where I shall be from the 2ist to the
25th. Since that a cool wave has come, and it is now
under 80 degrees, but I won't trust it ! I am very fit
and wish to stay so, and am literally longing to get
back to you. We have had a glorious trip, and I will
have an immensity to tell you of ; but, to tell the truth,
I have had enough of it, and shall be very glad to get
back to British soil. Nothing could exceed the kind-
ness we have met with everywhere, but after all said
and done, one is more at home in the 'old country,'
and the social comfort and civilisation of this marvel-
lous land laissent a dtsirer. We are resting here and
enjoying it all very much, and go to Denver on i/th,

258 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

stay 1 8th, and leave for Chicago night of
arriving at 7 A.M. the 2 1st — 1062 miles! There we
stay till 25th, and go to Niagara, and get to New
York, D. V., on the morning of 28th, and sail 3Oth.
We ought to be in Liverpool about 8th August, so I
should be with you at Puys the 1 1 th at latest. What
joy it will be ! Tell Victor I was simply delighted
with his badger story ; it was a grand bit of sport.
Tell him I am looking forward immensely to our rides.
I long to get on a ' safety ' again ; I shall expect him to
know all the best roads ; my legs won't be worth a rap
at first. Tell him there are lots of bicycles in this
country, and I saw a man riding an ' ordinary ' in San
Francisco, with the little wheel in front^ and going well,
and turning and twisting all over the shop. The
squirrels are most interesting here, and yesterday
Douglas and I saw the tiniest species, I should think,
in the world. He is not much bigger than a large
mouse, and striped like a zebra. Douglas is rigging
up a catapult, and we are going to try and get one this
afternoon. The thermometer is only 75 degrees in
my room now, and it is really quite cool again ; and I
see it was only 83 degrees yesterday in Chicago. I
have a lot to write, so must end. I glory in thinking
of you by the sea. Get me a bathing suit, and tell
Victor to try no tricks swimming out too far."

"CHICAGO, Tuesday ', 22nd July.

Fancy, this is my last letter from America, and the
great trip is nearly over — ' Time and the hour run
through the longest day.' We arrived here yesterday
after a very hot journey from Denver (1062 miles),
from 90 to 95 degrees in the train, but here it is
delightfully cool, about 75 degrees. Butler turned
up yesterday looking very well. It is impossible to

x LAST LETTER FROM AMERICA 259

describe this place in a letter. It is a magnificent
town. I never saw such buildings in any town in the
world. It runs along Lake Michigan, which is 70
miles across and 300 miles long. We drove down
Michigan Avenue (6 miles) yesterday evening, amongst
houses built by the different men who have made their
money here. The most beautiful houses surrounded by
lawns and all different architecture. The parks are
kept as well as Hyde Park, and laid out in flower-beds
and look lovely. We went to the stockyards to-day,
but I must keep the description of them till I come.
Yesterday 20,000 head of cattle and 37,000 pigs came
in, all of which were sold for export. To-day the
numbers were about half that, so you can fancy the
scale things are done on. All these cattle come from
the ranche and farm country for hundreds of miles
round. All Nebraska and Iowa, which the line runs
through from Denver, is just like France ', especially
round Dieppe ! It is all just as highly farmed — fine
farmhouses and woods and hedges and magnificent
cattle on all sides. Twenty-five years ago the wild
buffaloes and Indians had this all to themselves, and
roamed free as air over it. In 1871 ^all Chicago was
burnt. Ten years ago there were 500,000 inhabitants,
and now there are a million. All this shows the
incredible rate things grow at in this marvellous
country. Dear old Toby Cairnes * is here, came all the
way from Omalia, about 600 miles, to see me. We
leave for Niagara on Friday afternoon, and get to New
York on Monday at eleven, the dear old 2 8th ! We have
a first-class cabin in the Britannic, very cool and large,
£40. To-morrow we go down to see Hammond's
yards, the Company Lord Anson is Chairman of. I

1 Mr. Cairnes was a young friend of Brooke's, with whom he had great
lawn-tennis matches at Pau.

260 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP.

have got the Secretary of the Company coming down
with me. We meet with kindness on all sides. Your
last letter was 2nd July. Oh ! how glad I shall be to
get back. I will wire from Queenstown and London.
I am very fit, thank God. Kiss all the nest for their
old pater."

"H.M.S. 'BRITANNIC,'

Wednesday, 6th August.

It is too wonderful to think that, D. V., if all is well,
I shall post this to-morrow at Queenstown, and that in
a day or two I shall be with you. We ought to get to
Liverpool on Friday in time to catch either the
eleven or two train, in which case, if there is a boat to
Dieppe, I shall be with you on Sunday. Oh ! what joy
it will be ; 16,000 miles is a long journey, and I shall be
glad to get to my nest again. It has been a most glorious
trip, and I shall never be able to tell you all I have
seen. I have one side of my Gladstone bag full of
photos ! so you will have lots to illustrate my Journal,
which is short, but to the point. We have had a
marvellous passage. I don't think even you could have
been ill. It has been literally calm all the way. I
shall finish this to-morrow, and post it at Queenstown,
if I find it will get quicker to London, and I shall send
a wire of course. I am very fit, and will take great
care of our genial climate, you may be sure. It was
very hot starting, for the first day or two 8 2 degrees in
cabin. Now it is about 63 degrees. I got all your
letters at New York, and Mildred's. Thank the darling
child for it from her ' little father,' as she called me.
No words can describe Niagara ; it is the noblest thing
I ever saw, and nothing short of a bullock could look
at it without awe and wonder ; 200,000,000 of tons of
water are computed to fall over the falls per hour, so

x THE LEAF OF THE BIG JOURNEY FOLDED 261

you can slightly imagine the wild savagedom of the
place. I have some splendid photos on glass which I
am bringing you ; they cost £S, so they ought to be
good, and they are !

Thursday, jth August, 11.30 A.M. — We are just
passing Cape Clear, 60 miles from Queenstown, sea as
smooth as glass, so I will finish this and post it. We
ought to catch the eleven train to-morrow at Liverpool ;
Hasler l meets me, and I shall be mighty glad to see
him."

" CARLTON CLUB,
Friday, %th August 1890.

We arrived at 6.30 all right. I did not try to
catch the earlier train, but had a good lunch at Liver-
pool, and came by the two o'clock. You ought to get
this to-morrow. It seems too wonderful to be writing
from this old club again, the leaf of the big journey
folded and all a thing of the past. One cannot help
feeling very, very thankful that all has gone so safely
and so well, and that so many thousand miles have
been passed without a * hair being touched.' ' Under-
neath are the Everlasting Arms ! ' — only feel that really
and we could know no fear ; one is just as safe as in
one's bed, but one realises more on what a thread all
hangs, when you are off far away from home. I shall
come on Sunday, my darling, and be with you about , ,
three. Oh ! it will be joy to see my little all in all
again — all the wide and lovely globe cannot make up
to me for that."

1 His valet.

INDEX

ABBA SAYOUD, 209
Abbounashaba, 209
Abooseer, 206
Alexander, Mr., 239
Anstruther, Colonel, 15
Antelope, a herd of, 61
Antoine, 169

Ard el Hammer, Plain of, 224
"Arizona Garden," 253
Aronebo Mountain, 170
Ashbourne Act, 20 ; result, 21
Asikere, 60
Attaka, 216
Autrano, 209

BAALBEK, 230

Bagnell, Dr. , his words on Sir Victor

Brooke, 4

Bancroft, Cherrie, 256
Banff, 241
Bania, 227
Barada, 228
Barbalriddan Hills, 60
Bears, 151 - 153, 199, 201 - 203 ;

tracks of, 191, 193
Bedouins' Valley, 205
Bekree or Jungle Sheep, 67
Bellingham, Miss, marriage, 7
Benkypore, 59
B£rut, 231
Bethany, 217, 220
Bethlehem, 219
Bicknall, 48
Big Tree Station, 255
Billere, Plain de, 15
Bloomfield, John, 7
Blue Mountains, 72
Blyth, Edward, 27
Boar and tiger, fight between, 109
Bodo, 58

Boghisco, 163

Boston, 235

Bouquetin, 172, 174-186, 194, 198

Bridal Veil Fall, 249

Brine, Captain, 81

Brooke, Sir Arthur, 5

Sir Victor, i ; his appearance

and personality, i ; attainments,
qualities, and faults, 2-4 ; birth
and early years, 5 ; at school, 6 ;
death of his father, 6 ; travels, 7-
260 ; marriage, 7 ; love for natural
history, 8; deer-stalking, 9; resides
at Pau, it ; his powers of jumping
and physical strength, 12; hurdle-
race at Pau, 13 ; interest in games,
14 ; captain of the golf club, 15 ;
death of his brother, 15 ; master
of the fox hounds, 16 ; ordered to
Egypt, 17 ; visits the Holy Land,

1 8 ; his opinion of Home Rule,

19 ; trip to America, 22 ; at Veule,
23 ; return home, 23 ; illness, 24 ;
death and funeral, 25 ; attends Sir
William Flower's lectures, 27 ;
scientific studies, 28 ; explorations
in the Isle of Wight, 29 ; at the
meeting of the British Association,
30 ; list of his published contribu-
tions to science, 32-39 ; visit to
Norway, 40 ; admiration for Thor-
waldsen's Museum, 41 ; first view
of the coast, 41 ; ascent of Snee-
hatten, 43-46 ; descent, 47 ; ascent
of Vaugacullen, 48-53 ; descent,
54-58 ; expedition to India, 59 ;
first head of game, 61 ; tracks a
tiger, 62-65 1 starts for Tarikere,
66 ; stalks sambur, 68-70 ; in
the jungle, 70 ; escape from a

264

SIR VICTOR BROOKE

tiger, 72-76 ; wounds a tiger, 77,
78 ; starts for the Neilgherry Hills,
80 ; on coffee-planting, 84 ; ibex-
stalking, 87-92, 105, 121 ; stag-
hunting, 93-95, in, 119 ; meet-
ing with Colonel Hamilton, 97 ;
" the muckle hart of Glen Strae,"
99 ; kills the stag, 101 ; his first
two tigers, 102-104, 114-118;
watches a boar and tiger fight,
109 ; a royal tiger, 123-126 ; kills
a black panther, 127 ; expedition
into Malabar, 128 ; his capital
bag, 129 ; battery, 130 ; on the
spoor of elephants, 131 ; kills five,
131-140 ; the monster tusker, 140-
151 ; shoots bears, 151-153 ; his
opinion of Sir George Trevelyan,
154; visits Sardinia, 157; letter
on the Moufflon, 157-160 ; chases
a ram, 161-163 ; tracks a wolf,
163, 206-209 > at Valle"e d' Arras,
169, 172, 200 ; shoots an izard,
170 ; and bouquetin, 172, 194 ;
escape from an avalanche, 172,
192 ; beats the Sanctuary, 174,
187 ; at the bouquetin' s castle,
175-186 ; at Torla, 187 ; tracks a
bear, 191, 201-203 ; in Egypt,
204 ; chases a wolf, 206-209 ; at
Tel-el-Kebir, 209 ; in the desert,
210 ; want of water, 211 ; fails to
stalk an ibex, 212-214 • m tne
Holy Land, 217-231 ; on board
the Germanic, 232 ; tour in
America, 233 - 260 ; on board
H.M.S. Britannic, 260 ; in Lon-
don, 261

Brooke, Basil, 5 ; illness, 15 ; death, 16

Brinsley, 24

— Captain Arthur, 18

Harry, 5

Hastings, 7

Lady, her delicate health, 10

Mr. George, 6

Brooks, Mr., 237

Broto, Val de, n

Bucharo, 200

CACCEATON, 163
Cagliari, 157
Cairnes, Toby, 259
Caldwell, Castle, 7, 9
Calgary, 239

Calvary, site of, 221

Cana of Galilee (Kana el Jelil), 225

Celestin, 169

Cherith, Brook, 220

Chicago, 258

Clark, Mr., 250

Clark, Sir Andrew, 17

Clay, 48, 58

Clear, Cape, 261

Cliff House, 245

Coele Syria, Valley of, 230

Colebrooke, 5

Colorado Springs, 257

Cotatoire Mountain, 170, 182

Cueva, the, 187, 192

" Cypress Point," 254

DAMASCUS, 221 ; approach to, 228

Dead Sea, 217, 220

Denver, 257

Devil's Lake (Minnewauka), 241

Dothan, 222

Doves, Valley of the, 226

Dovre Fjeld, 43

Druses, the, 228

Dumboas, 42

EGYPT, 204

El Baba, 211

El Capitan, 249

El Hamma, Plain of, 226

El Webed, 212

Elephant-hunting, 131-151

ElstreeHill, 6

Emmaus, 218

Erick, a stalker, 58

Escusan, 200

Esdraelon, Plain of, 222, 224

FALCONER of the i7th Lancers, 128

Field, the, letter from Sir Victor
Brooke, 157-160

Flower, Sir William H.f 2, n ;
meeting with Sir Victor Brooke,
27 ; first visit to Colebrooke, 29

Fox, Colonel, 223

Francis, a native shikaree, 87

Fredericksberg, 42

GALILEE, 223 ; Sea of, 225, 226

Garstin, 209

Gavarnie, 172

Gave, the, 171, 191, 200

Geneffe Gebel, 211

INDEX

265

Gennesaret, Plain of, 223
Gerizim, 222
Geroa-el-Foal, 206
Gethsemane, 217
Gilboa, 222
Glen Strae, 105
Gough, 6 1
Grizzly Giant, 251, 252

HALF DOME, 249

Hamilton, General Douglas, 10, 96 ;
Records of Sport in Southern India,
96 note

Hammerfest, 47

Hancock, Captain, the Hon., killed
by a tiger, 82

Hasbeya, 228

Hasler, 24

Hattin, Horns of, 224 ; town of, 225

Hebron, 218

Hermon, 222

Hill, Mr., 251

Hood, Mount, 244

Hordwell. Cliff, 29

Hudson River, 235

Hughes, Captain, killed by an ele-
phant, 83

Huxley, Professor, on the relations
between Sir Victor Brooke and his
tenants, 20 ; demonstration on the
anatomy of the cray-fish, 30

I BEX -STALKING, 87-92 105, 212-
214

Izard-stalking, 169

JAFFA GATE, 221
Jericho, 220
Jerkin, 43, 47
Jerusalem, 218
Jezreel, 222
Jordan, the, 220, 223
Jouvence, Villa, n
Judea, wilderness of, 219
Jungle Sheep or Bekree, 67

KADUR, 60
Kedron, Valley of, 217
Keer, Ephesia, 163
Kefr Hannar, 228
Khamsin wind, 209, 214
Kuddor, 60

LAMMERGEIER kills an izard, 177

Largie, Deer Park of, 8
Lebanon, Cedars of, 231
Lechervark, 42
Lilford, Lord, n
Lillehammer, 42
Lofoden Islands, 48
Lydda, 218

MACHPELAH, 219

Malabar, 128

Mamre, Plain of, 218

Mar Saba, 219

Mason, Jim, 7

Maude, Mr. Frederick, 16

Mavgelli, Sheikh, 209

Mayar Valley, 105

Mejdel-esh-Shems, 228

Michell, the best climber in Gavarnie,

179

Michigan, Lake, 259
Mirror Lake, 249
Moab, Mountains of, 217, 220
Monterey, 253
Montreal, 236
Morris, Mr. John, 29
Morse, 233
Moufflon, the, 157
" Muckle hart of Glen Strae," 99
Mysore, 59

NAZARETH, 223, 224
Nebo, Mount, 220
Neilgherry Hills, 72, 80
Nevada Falls, 249
New York, 234
Niagara, 260

OKEOVER, Charles, letter from Sir

Victor Brooke, 127
Olives, Mount of, 217
Ootacamund, 72, 8 1
Orange Valley, 95
Oristano, 157
Orrigo, 161

PALESTINE, 217
Panther, the black, 126
Patoglino, the hill of, 165, 167
Pau, ii

Peak Rock, 106
Pearse, Mr. Godfrey, 12
Pegailure gorge, 167
Phillipe, the Mayor, 171
Porter, Colonel, 66, 71

266

SIR VICTOR BROOKE

Portland, 243

Post, Mr. Arthur, n, 173, 187

Price, Mr., 66

ROCKIES, the, 240, 241
Rojo, spurs of the, 170
Romsdal, 42
Roosevelt, Mr. and Mrs., 235

SALEROUS, mountain, 170

Salt Lake City, 256

Samaria, hills of, 222

Sambur-stalking, 67-69

San Francisco, 245 ; the Chinese

quarter, 247
Sandywerry, 66
Santa Cruz, 255
Sardinia, 157
Schaefer, the champion American

billiard player, 244
Science, List of Sir Victor Brooke's

published contributions to, 32-39
Sclater, Mr. P. L., 32
Sefurieh, Plain of, 225
Sentinel, the, 248
Sharon, Plain of, 218
Shasta, Mount, 244
Shimoga, 59, 80
Smith, Sir Donald, 237
Sneehatten, ascent of, 43-47
Stag-hunting, 93-95, in
Stimson's ranch, 240
Subeibeh, Castle of, 227
Suez, 216

Superior, Lake, 238
Swolvear, 48

TABOR, 224
Tacoma, 243
Tarikere, 60, 66, 71
Tel-el-Kebir, 209

Thomas, Mr. Oldfield, 32

Thorwaldsen's Museum, 41

Throndhjem, 47

Tiberias, 226

Tiger, a royal, 123 ; strength of a, 73

and boar, fight between, 109

Todas, the, in

Toragio, 164

Torla, n, 169, 187

Trench, 217

Trevelyan, Sir Charles, 154

Sir George Otto, 154

Turbon, 169

VALLEE D'ARRAS, n, 170, 172, 200

Vancouver, 241

Vaugacullen, 48

Veblungsnoes, 58

Vernal Falls, 249

Vest Fjord, 58

Vetter, Mr., 209

Veule, 23

Victoria, 242

Villacidro, 163

Virgin's Tears Fall, 249

"WATCH ROCK," III

Wawona, 250
Wellingtonia, the, 252
White, Mr. , 239
Willoughby, killed by a tiger, 83
Winnipeg, 238
Wolves, tracks of, 166, 206
Wrench, Mr., 12
Wynand Forest, 129

YOSEMITE FALLS, 249

Valley, 248

Young, the Canadian, 13

ZAGAZIG, 209

THE END

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AND KINDRED SUBJECTS.

Edited by THOMAS MACKAY,

Author of " A History of the English Poor ; " Editor of " A Plea for Liberty," &c.

"A powerful exposure of the vapid talk, inconclusive reasoning, and cloudy sentiment
which enter so largely into the Socialistic contentions."— Standard.

1 2 Mr. Murray's List of New and Recent Works.

The Christian Ethic.

By WILLIAM KNIGHT, LL.D.,

Professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of St. Andrews.
Crown Svo. 3^. 6d.

" In a very interesting little book by Professor Knight, of St. Andrews, we find an admir-
able description of the virtues and the sins on which Christ's teaching lays most stress. . . .
Professor Knight sketches briefly and vigorously the characteristics of the human ethics which
made Christ's teaching the very flower and completion of all the earlier ethical teaching which
had ever moulded human conduct." — Spectator.

The Life and Correspondence of
Arthur Penrhyn Stanley,

LATE DEAN OF WESTMINSTER.

By ROWLAND E. PROTHERO, M.A.,

Barrister-at-Law, late Fellow of All Souls' College, Oxford.

WITH THE CO-OPERATION AND SANCTION OF THE
Very Rev. G. G. BRADLEY,

DEAN OF WESTMINSTER.

THIRD EDITION. With Portraits and Illustrations. 2 Vols. %vo. 12s.

Glimpses of Four Continents.

LETTERS WRITTEN DURING A TOUR IN AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND
AND NORTH AMERICA, IN 1893.

By the DUCHESS OF BUCKINGHAM AND CHANDOS.

With Portraits and Illustrations from the Author's Sketches, 6°<r.
Crown 8vo, gs. net.

"There is not a dull page in the book, and the Duchess has made the most of her oppor-
tunities and has taken her fellow citizens and citizenesses into her confidence."— Westminster
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Mr. Murray's List of New and Recent Works. 13

The Burdens of Belief.

AND OTHER POEMS.

By tlie DTTKE OF ARGYLL.

Crown Svo. 6s.

"The Duke differs in one important respect from most of the new poets which every day
brings forth . . . he has always something to say, and that something which definitely touches
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treats Nature with the power which comes from a first-hand and loving observation of all her
works. " — Guardian.

Alone with the Hairy Ainu :

OR, 3,800 MILES ON A PACK SADDLE IN YEZO AND
A CRUISE TO THE KURILE ISLANDS.

By A. H. SAVAGE LANDOR.

With Map and numerous Illustrations by the Author. Medium 8v0. iSs.'

"A thrilling narrative, which as a story of perseverance and pluck, has not many equals
tn all the pages of modern travel." — Morning Post.

The Pamirs:

BEING A NARRATIVE OF A YEAR'S EXPEDITION ON

HORSEBACK AND ON FOOT THROUGH KASHMIR,

WESTERN TIBET, CHINESE TARTARY, AND

RUSSIAN CENTRAL ASIA.

By the EARL OF DUNMOBE.

SECOND EDITION. With Maps and many Illustrations, chiefly from the Authors
Sketches. 2 Vols. Crown 8vo. 2$s.

" Lord Dunmore's account of his adventures in those far-off lands is excellent reading
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" For sportsmen there is much to read in these two volumes of grand hunting days after
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14 Mr. Murray's List of New and Recent Works.

A First Introduction .to the Study of
the Greek Testament.

COMPRISING A CONNECTED NARRATIVE OF OUR LORD'S LIFE,

FROM THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS, IN THE ORIGINAL GREEK.

WITH CONCISE GRAMMAR, NOTES, AND VOCABULARY.

By THEOPHILUS D. HALL, M.A.

Crown 8vo. 2s- 6d.

This volume is intended to aid those who desire to study the New Testament in the
original Greek Text. The student, without any previous knowledge of the language, and
with only a moderate amount of labour, may, by the assistance of this book, gain an insight
into the Gospel Narrative text which he could not otherwise acquire.

" This little work contains a large amount of true scholarship, with the topics arranged in
a most intelligible form, and condensed into the smallest possible space. To those who have
made any beginning with Greek, and desire to continue that study so far as to make use of the
New Testament in the original, this handbook will bring most welcome assistance. For any
who have no knowledge of the language, but are anxious to read the Greek Testament, we
know no work so likely to further their wishes as this. . . . We hope that many may be in-
duced to avail themselves of this valuable introduction to a study so indispensable to all
Christian teachers." — Methodist Times.

The Epistles of St. Paul to the
Thessalonians, Galatians and Romans,

WITH NOTES AND DISSERTATIONS.

INCLUDING AN ESSAY ON THE INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE, ORIGINALLY
PUBLISHED IN "ESSAYS AND REVIEWS."

By the late B. JOWETT, M.A., Master of Balliol College.
Edited by LEWIS CAMPBELL, M.A., LL.D,,

Emeritus Professor of Greek in the University of St. Andrew's.
2 Voh. Crown 8vo. 'js. 6d. net, each volume.

This work was first published in 1855, a second and thoroughly Revised Edition appeared
in 1859, and was rapidly exhausted, but the author did not re-issue the work during his life-
time.

The present Edition is so divided that the text of the Epistles, together with the Notes
and Introductions, form the First Volume, whilst the Essays and Dissertations are contained
in the Second Volume.

"The Commentary and the Essays and Dissertations are of permanent value, alike for
the subtlety of their thought, their ethical elevation, and the inimitable grace of their style."
— Times.

Mr. Murray's List of New and Recent Works. 15

Life in Parliament.

A RECORD OF THE DAILY EXPERIENCES OF

A MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS.

From 1886 to 1892 inclusive.
By Sir RICHARD TEMPLE, Bart., M.P., G.C.S.I., D.C.L., LL.D., &c.

Crown 2>vo. Js. 6d.

"An interesting series of reminiscences of a striking epoch of parliamentary history, that
cannot fail to be exceedingly attractive, not merely to those who were themselves in the thick
or the fight, but equally to those outside the pale of Parliamentary life." — St. James's Gazette.

Correspondence of Mr. Joseph Jekyll

WITH HIS SISTER-IN-LAW,

LADY GERTRUDE SLOANE STANLEY.
1818—1838.

Edited, with a Brief Memoir, by the Hon. ALGERNON BOURKE.

8vo. i6s.

"A very slight inspection of these letters will convince any one that they well deserved to
be disinterred and given to the world, not only as portraying a notable figure in the society of
the period, but as a valuable, interesting, and sprightly addition to contemporary memoirs."
— Times.

" Altogether, Jekyll's letters make the most excellent reading." — Athen&nm.

The Conversion of India.

FROM PANT^NUS TO THE PRESENT TIME, 193—1893.
By GEORGE SMITH, C.I.E., LL.D.,

Author of the Lives of William Carey, of Henry Martyn, of John Wilson, F.R.S.,
and of Alexander Duff.

With Illustrations. Crown 8vo. gs.

"To those who remember Dr. George Smith's admirable Life of William Carey, which
without fear of challenge we reckon among the choicest of Missionary Biographies, the book
before us will need no recommendation. ... A statesmanlike account of seventeen centuries
of mission work."— Literary World.

1 6 Mr. Murray's List of New and Recent Works.

Barncraig.

EPISODES IN THE LIFE OF A SCOTTISH VILLAGE.

By GABRIEL SETOUN.

Crown Svo. $s.

"It is with real pleasure that we welcome a new writer in the person of Gabriel Setoun.
It is very rarely that a first book is of such excellence. It not only contains promise, but
fulfilment. '' — Queen.

RECENT VOLUMES OF THE UNIVERSITY EXTENSION SERIES.

Edited by PROFESSOR KNIGHT, of St. Andrew's.

Greece in the Age of Pericles.

By A. J. GRANT,

King's College, Cambridge, and Staff Lecturer in History to the University of Cambridge.
Crown 8v0. 3$. 6d.

"A very interesting and useful essay in historical representation, written with exceptional
freshness and lucidity, " — Newcastle Daily Leader.

Chapters in Modern Botany.

By PATRICK GEDDES,

Professor of Botany, University College, Dundee.
With Illustrations. Crown %vo. 3^. 6d.

"A most charmingly written account of some of the more striking phenomena of piant
life." — Daily Chronicle.

The Jacobean Poets.

By EDMUND GOSSE.

Crown *&vo, 3^. 6d.

" None can read this brief but comprehensive treatise on a brilliant episode in English
letters without increasing their own knowledge of the period and their appreciation of its
exponent's critical acumen and research. " — Daily Telegraph.

Mr. Murray's List of New and Recent Works. 1 7

The Psalter of 1539.

A LANDMARK OF ENGLISH LITERATURE.

COMPRISING THE TEXT, IN BLACK LETTER TYPE.
Edited, with Notes, by JOHN EARLE, M.A.,

Professor of Anglo-Saxon in the University of Oxford.
%V0. l6s.

"Alike in the introduction and in the notes, students of the Psalter, whether theological,
philological, literary, or devotional, will derive abundant guidance, instruction, and edification
from Mr. Earle's comments." — Times.

SIR WILLIAM SMITH'S

Classical Dictionary

OF MYTHOLOGY, BIOGRAPHY AND GEOGRAPHY.

A NeiV) Enlarged^ and Revised Edition^ -with many Neiu Plans and Illustrations.
Edited by G. E. MARINDIN, M.A.,

Formerly Fellow of King's College, Cambridge.
With over 800 Illustrations. 8vo. iSs.

The Diary of an Idle Woman in
Constantinople.

By Mrs. MINTO ELLIOT,

Author of " The Diary of an Idle Woman in Italy,"—" in Sicily," &c.
With Map and Illustrations. Crown 8v0. 14^.

" The volume is an historical and social guide book, in which the picturesque and realistic
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1 8 Mr. Murray's List of New and Recent Works.

Kirkes' Handbook of Physiology.

By W. MOBRANT BAKER, F.R.C.S.,

Surgeon to St. Bartholomew's Hospital, Examiner in Surgery at the Royal College of Surgeons ; and

VINCENT DORMER HARRIS, M.D. Lond.,

Demonstrator of Physiology at St. Bartholomew's Hospital.

THIRTEENTH EDITION THOROUGHLY REVISED.
With over 500 Illustrations and Coloured Plates. Crown Svo. i^s.

WORKS BY THE REV. CHARLES GORE.

The Mission of the ; The Incarnation of the

Church.

FOUR LECTURES DELIVERED

IN THE CATHEDRAL OF

ST. ASAPH.

Cr<nvn Svo. 2s. 6ct.

Son of God.

THE BAMPTON LECTURES
FOR

Sixth Thoiisand. 8vo. JS. 6<f.

The Student's History of the Roman

Empire.

FROM THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE EMPIRE TO THE
ACCESSION OF COMMODUS, A.D. 180.

Forming one of the Series of MURRAY'S STUDENT'S MANUALS.
By J. B. BURY,

Professor of Modern History, Trinity College, Dublin.
With Coloured Maps and many Illustrations.. Post 8vo. Js. 6d.

"Professor Bury's History of the Roman Empire, anew volume in Mr. Murray's well-
known series of 'Student's Manuals,' takes up the story of Rome at the foundation of the
Empire, and carries it down to the death of Marcus Aurelius. The book thus forms a con-
necting link — one the want of which has been seriously felt — between ' The Student's Rome '
and ' the Student's Gibbon.' The work, for the rest, is admirably written on the same lines
as the other histories in the Student's Series. ... It has a full equipment of maps and illustra-
tions, and is in every way worthy of its place in the admirable series of books in which it
appears." — Scotsman.

Mr. Murray's List of New and Recent Works. 19

TWO DISTINGUISHED LADIES.

The Letters of Lady Burghersh

(AFTERWARDS COUNTESS OF WESTMORLAND)

FROM GERMANY AND FRANCE DURING THE CAMPAIGN

OF 1813-14.

Edited by her Daughter, Lady HOSE WEIGALL.

SECOND EDITION. With Portraits. Crown 8vo. 6s.

" A readable and pleasant little volume for the great public . . . full of charm from the
first to the last \mQ."—Athen(Eum.

A Sketch of the Life of Georgiana,
Lady de Ros.

WITH SOME REMINISCENCES OF HER FAMILY AND FRIENDS,
INCLUDING THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON.

By her Daughter the Hon. Mrs. SWINTON.

SECOND EDITION. With Portraits. Crown Svo. 7.9. 6d.

A Memoir of H.R.H. the late Duke
of Clarence.

WRITTEN WITH THE SANCTION OF H.R.H. THE PRINCE OF WALES.
By JAMES EDMUND VINCENT.

SECOND EDITION. With Portraits and Illustrations. Crown 8vo. gs.

" The narrative is straightforward and plain. Full justice is done to the Prince's extreme
amiability of disposition, to his unswerving regard for duty, and to his power of making
friends and of keeping their affections. There is no attempt to make him out as abler than he
was or to represent his literary and oratorical powers as exceptional among Princes." — The

Times.

20 Mr. M^lrray's List of New and Recent Works.

Italian Painters.

CRITICAL STUDIES OF THEIR WORKS.

By GIOVANNI MORELLI (Ivan Lermolieff).

TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN
By CONSTANCE JOCELYN FFOTJLKES.

I.-THE BORGHESE AND DORIA PAMFILI GALLERIES

IN ROME.

With an Introductory Notice by Sir A. HENRY LAYARD, G.C.B.

With Illustrations. %vo. i$s.

" It does not need an enthusiastic sentiment for art to find this book interesting. No
student of painting can afford to do without it." — St. James's Gazette.

JI.-THE GALLERIES OF MUNICH AND DRESDEN.

With Illustrations. Sv0. 1*.

A Manual of Naval Architecture.

FOR THE USE OF OFFICERS OF THE NAVY, THE

MERCANTILE MARINE, SHIP-OWNERS, SHIP-BUILDERS,

AND YACHTSMEN.

By W. H. WHITE, C.B., F.R.S.,

Assistant-Controller and Director of Naval Construction, Royal Navy; Fellow of the Royal Societies
of London and Edinburgh; Vice-President of the Institution of Naval Architects; Member of the
Institutions of Civil Engineers and Mechanical Engineers; Honorary Member of the North-East Coast
Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders ; Fellow of the Royal School of Naval Architecture.

THIRD EDITION, thoroughly Revised and in great part Re-written,
With 176 Illustrations. Medium 8vo. 24*.

" Mr. White's manner is excellent, and as his work embraces in a concise and clear form
all that is at present known of naval science, it can conscientiously be recommended as a
trustworthy preceptor. All who take an interest in ships, whether they be war, merchant, or
pleasure ships, such as yachts, will find in the ' Manual ' all that science can teach them."-
Ficld.

Mr. Murray's List of New and Recent Works. 2 1

The Baronage and the Senate.

OR THE HOUSE OF LORDS IN THE PAST, THE PRESENT,
AND THE FUTURE.

By WM. CHABTEBIS MACPHEBSON.

8vo. i6s.

Contents: — The Origin and Constitution of the House of Lords. — The Radical Case
against the House of Lords. — Radical Remedies. — Conservative Reforms.

" A most sound, interesting and informing book ; and very few men who have not made a
careful study of constitutional history will close it without feeling that they are better informed
about the history of the House of Lords, its uses and its position in the constitution, than
they were when they began." — St. Jamts's Budget.

A Revised, Enlarged and Cheaper Edition of

SIR WILLIAM SMITH'S

The Dictionary of the Bible.

BY VARIOUS WRITERS.

Edited by Sir WILLIAM SMITH, D.C.L., LL.D.,
and the Rev. Professor J. M. FULLER, M.A.

WITH A LARGE NUMBER OF NEW ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS OF SPECIAL DISTRICTS.
3 Vols. Medium 8vo. £$ 4*.

REDUCTION IN PRICE.

This work has hitherto been sold at £5 5s. Although the revised First Volume ex-
tends to nearly double its former dimensions, the PRICE OF THE WHOLE WORK IS NOW
REDUCED TO FOUR GUINEAS. The New First Volume (in 2 Parts, 1853 pp.) is sold sepa-
rately for TWO GUINEAS, and Volumes II. and III. (1862 pp.) TWO GUINEAS TOGETHER.

The object of the new edition is to bring the first volume abreast of the requirements of
the present day, and to make it conform in fulness and scholarship with Volumes II. and III.
With this end in view the volume has been revised, many of the more important articles have
been re-written, and those included in the Appendix (added to Volume III. some years ago)
have been inserted in their proper place.

Among the writers of new articles in the present edition are the late Bishop LIGHTFOOT,
Dr. WESTCOTT the present Bishop of Durham, Professor DRIVER, Dr. EBERS, Professor
KIRKPATRICK, Professor LUMBY, M. NAVILLE the Egyptologist, Professor RYLE, Dr.
SALMON, Professor SANDAY, Dr. SANDYS, Professor SAYCE, Professor STANTON, Canon
TRISTRAM, Archdeacon W ATKINS, Major-General Sir CHARLES WILSON, and others.

22 Mr. Murray's List of New and Recent Works.

TWO WORKS BY THE DUKE OF ARGYLL.

Irish Nationalism.

AN APPEAL TO HISTORY.
By the DUKE OF ARGYLL, K.G., K.T.

Crown %vo.

The Unseen Foundations of Society ;

AN EXAMINATION OF THE FALLACIES AND FAILURES OF
ECONOMIC SCIENCE DUE TO NEGLECTED ELEMENTS.

By the DUKE OF ARGYLL, K.G., K.T.

SECOND EDITION. 8vo. i8s.

NEW EDITION OF THE WORKS OF
HERMAN MELVILLE.

WITH A MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR BY H. S. SALT,

and New Illustrations taken on the spot.

Typee :

OR, THE MARQUESAS
ISLANDERS.

With Maps and Ilhistrations. Crown 8vo.
3s. 6d.

Omoo :

A NARRATIVE OF ADVENTURE
IN THE SOUTH SEAS.

With Maps and Illustrations. Crown 8vo.

" We cordially welcome a new edition of this once well-known and justly appreciated
' Typee,' with its sequel, ' Omoo.' " — Times.

" More delightful reading no man of any age need wish for." — Speaker.

Mr. Murray's List of New and Recent Works. 23

Old French Plate.

ITS MAKERS AND MARKS.
By WILFRED J. CBJPP3, C.B.

A New and Revised Edition, -with Tables of Makers' Marks, in Addition to the
Plate Marks. Svo. los. 6d.

ST. JOHN'S

Wild Sports and Natural History of the
Highlands of Scotland.

A NEW AND CHEAPER EDITION, THOROUGHLY REVISED, WITH
HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED NOTES BY THE AUTHOR.

EDITED, WITH A MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR,
By the Rev. M. G. W ATKINS.

With Portrait of Mr. St. John, and several New Illustrations. Medium Svo. I2J.

A Dictionary of Hymnology,

SETTING FORTH THE

ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN HYMNS
OF ALL AGES AND NATIONS,

WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THOSE CONTAINED IN THE

HYMN-BOOKS OF ENGLISH-SPEAKING COUNTRIES,

AND NOW IN COMMON USE.

Edited by JOHN JULIAN, M.A.,

Vicar of Wincobank, Sheffield.
l6l6//. Medium Svo. £2 2s.

"One of the most remarkable books which has ever issued from the press. It is a com-
plete guide to the hymnology of Christendom." — Daily News.

24 Mr. Murray's List of New and Recent Works.

The Chronology of Medieval and
Renaissance Architecture.

A DATE BOOK OF ARCHITECTURAL ART, FROM THE FOUNDING

OF THE BASILICA OF ST. PETER, ROME, BY CONSTANTINE,

TO THE DEDICATION OF THE NEW BUILDING BY

POPE URBAN VIII.

Forming a Companion Volume to FERGUSSON'S " HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE."

By J. TAVENOR PERRY.

With Illustrations. &vo. l6s.

The work comprises several thousand well-authenticated dates of building operations
in Europe and the East during the period of the Romanesque, Gothic, and Renaissance
styles, together with copious indexes to the names of Places, Buildings, Architects,
Founders, &c., and a Synoptical Table shewing by examples the gradual development
of the styles.

NEW AND REVISED EDITION OF

Fergusson's History of Architecture
in all Countries.

In Four Volumes, medium 8vo, with upwards of 1700 Illustrations.

VOLS. I. & II.-ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL ARCHITECTURE.

Edited by B. PHENE SPIERS, F.S.A.

With loco Illustrations. 2 Vols. £$ 3^.

VOL. HI-INDIAN AND EASTERN ARCHITECTURE. 3". 6J.
VOL. iv.-MODERN STYLES OF ARCHITECTURE. 3". 6*

'* Mr. Fergusson's beautiful and most popular books have superseded all other HISTORIES
OF ARCHITECTURE. It is not only that the extraordinary abundance of his illustrations gives
him a special advantage over all his rivals or predecessors, but no other writer has ever had
so firm a grasp of his subject, or has been so well qualified to deal with it in all its branches."
— Saturday Review.

" A considerably improved, but still perfectly recognisable issue of what is certainly, as far
as we know, the most remarkable attempt at a continuous history of the whole of architecture
which has ever been produced, and which is a lasting honour to English architectural
literature. " — Builder.

Mr. Murray s List of New ana Recent Works. 25

Jenny Lind the Artist.

A NEW AND ABRIDGED EDITION OF THE MEMOIR OF

MADAME JENNY LIND-GOLDSCHMIDT.
1820 — 1851.

FROM MSS. AND DOCUMENTS COLLECTED BY
MR. GOLDSCHMIDT.

By H. SCOTT HOLLAND, and W. S. ROCKSTRO,

Canon of St. Paul's Cathedral ; Author of "The Life of Mendelssohn.'

With Portraits. Crown 8vo. gs.

Handbook of Greek Archaeology,

SCULPTURE, VASES, BRONZES, GEMS, TERRA-COTTAS,
ARCHITECTURE, MURAL PAINTINGS, &c.

By A. S. MURRAY, LL.D.,

Keeper of the Greek and Roman Antiquities, British Museum.
With 21 Engraved Plates and 130 Woodcuts. Crown 8vo. IBs.

By the Same Author.

A History of Greek Sculpture.

REVISED EDITION. With 140 Illustrations. 2 Vols. Medium &vo. 36*.

Ivar the Viking.

A ROMANTIC HISTORY, BASED UPON AUTHENTIC FACTS

OF THE THIRD AND FOURTH CENTURIES.

By PAUL B. DU CHAILLU,

Author of " The Viking Age," &c.
Crown Svo. 6s.

"There are passages in plenty of an admirable and vivid simplicity in its pages, calling up
picture after picture of that old Viking life whose colour and movement appeal so much to us
to-day, whose very names stir the blood." — Westminster Gazette.

26 Mr. Murray's List of New and Recent Works.

MR. EDWARD WHYMPER'S WORKS.

Scrambles amongst the Alps in the
Years 1860-69,

INCLUDING THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST ASCENT
OF THE MATTERHORN.

By EDWARD WHYMPER.

An Edition de Luxe (Fourth Edition). With 5 Maps and 136 Illustrations.
Price £2 I2s. 6d. net.

*#* This Edition will not be reprinted.

Travels amongst the Great Andes
of the Equator.

By EDWARD WHYMPER.

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY

BARNARD, CORBOULD, DADD, LAPWORTH, OVEREND, SKELTON
WAGNER, WILSON, WOLF, AND OTHERS.

With 4 Maps and 140 Illustrations. Medium Sv0. 21 s. net.
SUPPLEMENTARY APPENDIX TO HOW tO Use the

Travels amongst the Aneroid Barometer.

Great Andes
of the Equator.

Illustrated with Figures of new Genera

and Species.

With 60 Illustrations. Medium Svo.

By EDWARD WHYMPER

With numerous Tables.
Medium Svo. 2s. 6d. net.

Raised to 21 s. net.

* The above thtee Works are sold separately.

Mr. Murray's List of New and Recent Works. 27
MURRAY'S HANDBOOKS.

NEW VOLUMES AND RECENT EDITIONS.

New Zealand.

AUCKLAND, WELLINGTON, THE HOT LAKES DISTRICT WAN

GANUI, CHRISTCHURCH, DUNEDIN, THE WEST COAST

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Maps and Plans. Post &vo. js.6d.

. "-Athenvum

iIy firSt aS a trUStWOr^ *uide <° the finest of the Colonies of the

It is a

Handbook for Oxfordshire.

A NEW EDITION.

With numerous Maps and Plans and a Full Description of Oxford and its Colleges.

Crwvn 8v0. 6s.

a advantages of
'hey kn°W thdr 0xfOTd «" «» 'earnagrea, deal from this

Handbook for Worcestershire and
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A NEW EDITION.
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Japan.

THIRD EDITION.
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With Maps and Plans. 15^-. net.

2S Mr. Murray's List of New and Recent Works.
MURRAY'S

University Extension Manuals

Edited by Professor KNIGHT, of St. Andrew's University.
THE FOLLOWING WORKS ARE NOW READY:

The Study of Animal Life. By J. ARTHUR THOMSON, Lecturer

on Zoology, School of Medicine, Edinburgh, Joint Author of the Evolution of Sex,
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The Realm of Nature : A Manual of Physiography.

By Dr. HUGH ROBERT MILL, Librarian to the Royal Geographical Society. With
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With Coloured Maps and Illustrations. Crown 8vo. $s.

The Elements of Ethics. By JOHN H. MUIRHEAD, Balliol College,

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Cambridge, and Staff Lecturer in History to the University of Cambridge. With
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The Jacobean Poets. By EDMUND GOSSE. Crown 8vo. $s. 6d.

The English Novel. By Professor RALEIGH, University College,
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BRADBURY, AGNEW, & CO. LDM PRINTERS, WHITEFKIARS.

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