he says that two antediluvian monsters, which he at first took for boulders of granite, were as thick as the body of a hippopotamus and of enormous length. He seems to think that the crocodiles are much larger in Africa than they are in India. But he would probably correct this opinion if he met some of the huge crocodiles that infest the sunderbuns of Bengal, or if he would examine some of the heads of the specimens that are to be seen in the Calcutta Museum, where the base of the skull measures more than a yard in width, whilst the skeletons are eighteen feet in length.

Although the hippopotamus may be less loathsome than the crocodile, Sir S. Baker writes that "there is no animal that he disliked more than the hippopotamus, if he was compelled to travel at night upon an African river in an ordinary boat." Even without this limitation the hippopotamus seems remarkably dangerous. Sir S. Baker tells how in broad daylight a hippopotamus charged the steamer that was towing his Diahbeeah, and perforated the iron plates of the vessel in two places with its projecting tusks, so that it made a dangerous leak. On another occasion, when the steamer passed over a hippopotamus that was walking (after the manner of these beasts) under water along the bed of the river, the steamer of one hundred and eight tons gave a leap into the air, as the water was too shallow to permit the hippopotamus to pass beneath the keel. What became of the hippopotamus was not ascertained. On another occasion a bull hippopotamus charged the Diahbeeah in the middle of the night, and sank a small boat that was fastened alongside by biting a large piece out of it. "Not satisfied with this success, it then charged the iron vessel, and would assuredly have sunk her if I had not stopped the onset by a shot in the skull with a No. 8 rifle." Sir S. Baker calls the animal "stupidly ferocious" when it is in the water, though it is comparatively timorous on land. On one occasion he saw a man in a boat wantonly attacked and killed by a hippopotamus. The Hamran Arabs and some of the tribes attack the hippopotamus with their harpoons, and when the beast has been thus securely hooked they drag it on shore and slay it with their spears, whilst they half blind it by throwing sand into its eyes. But the hippopotamus sometimes gets the better of them and escapes. Sir S. Baker states a curious fact concerning a commercial change that has affected the hippopotamus. Formerly its tusks, or large,

prominent teeth, were in great request by dentists to make artificial teeth. They were superior to ivory in the permanence of their color, and they never turned yellow. But the American invention of porcelain enamel for artificial teeth has destroyed the value of the hippopotamus's tusks, and they are now cheaper than ivory. Some people may have wondered for what good purpose such an ungainly and seemingly useless beast as the hippopotamus was created. Sir S. Baker writes that "a young calf hippopotamus is delicious eating. The feet when stewed are far superior to those of any other animal, and the skin makes excellent turtle soup. The flesh of the animal is always palatable; and, although the meat of an old bull is tough, it can be successfully treated by pounding and beating it on a flat stone until the fibre is totally destroyed. If it is then mixed with chopped onions, pepper and salt and wild thyme, it will form either rissoles or cotelettes de veau by a pleasing transformation." What a pity it is that Sir S. Baker was not at hand to act as cook when Dr. Buckland, the dean of Westminster unfortunately made the Archbishop of Canterbury seriously ill by inducing him to partake of plain roast hippopotamus !

From these amphibious and odious monsters it is a relief to turn to the more noble beasts of the forest, the lions and the tigers, with which Sir S. Baker had so many an encounter. It may be safely asserted that the lion was his favorite animal, which might be interpreted as meaning that he would rather have shot a lion than a tiger - a form of favoritism which would not be acceptable to the lion. On the other hand, the favoritism means that he preferred the qualities and characteristics of the lion to those of the tiger. Undoubtedly there is in England a popular prejudice in favor of the lion, to the support of which Sir S. Baker stoutly contributes. He says that "there is a nobility in the character of the lion which differs entirely from the slinking habits of tigers, leopards, and the feline race in general. Although the lion is fond of dense retreats, he exposes himself in many ways. This exposure or carelessness of concealment renders his destruction comparatively easy.' Owing to these causes Sir S. Baker thinks that the number of lions in the world has greatly diminished. India and other parts of Asia they are almost extinct, and in Africa they have been continually destroyed from the time of the Roman emperors, when, according

In

down. The poor antelope twisted and doubled, but the cheetah was too quick and clever for it. Sir S. Baker declares that "it was worth a special voyage to India only to see that hunt," but he adds that he learnt that it was quite exceptional in its character, so that it will be hardly worth while to go out to India on the chance of seeing it repeated.

It will be remembered that Sir S. Baker began his great career as a sportsman in Ceylon, although as a lad in England he was doubtless initiated into the mysteries of the craft. His hounds in Ceylon were a mixed and motley pack, but admirably suited to their work of hunting the elk or sambur deer; whilst, armed with only his hunting-knife, he followed his pack on foot over mountain and moor and into deep

fawning on its master and jumping on his lap. Of course the horse fared badly in the contrast. And so would the elephant if he were to try to imitate the dog, and curl himself up at his master's feet before the camp fire. But Sir S. Baker himself acknowledges that the elephant is instructed and guided by the mahout in all that he does. He writes thus: "I do not know a more agreeable sensation than the start in the early morning on a thoroughly dependable elephant, with a mahout who takes a real interest in his work. A thorough harmony exists between man and beast, and you feel prepared for anything. But how much depends upon that mahout. It is impossible for a bystander to comprehend the secret signs which are mutually understood by the elephant and his guide - the elephant detects every movement, ravines full of precipices and waterfalls. however slight, and is thus mysteriously Those who know the climate of Ceylon guided by its intelligence; the mighty can only wonder at the marvellous vigor beast obeys the unseen helm of thought, with which Sir Samuel Baker pursued this just as a huge ship yields, by apparent sport on the hottest and most exhausting instinct, to the rudder which directs her days, following the distant cry of the dogs course. And he goes on to observe for miles and miles, and eventually coming "What must be the result should an ele- up in time to find them at bay with the phant be guided by a mahout of uncertain stag in some dangerous pool of water. temperament? The great trouble when His courage and his hunting-knife never riding on an elephant is the difficulty in failed him, though there were occasions getting the mahout to obey an order. In when some of his best and most beloved tiger shooting the elephant will at once dogs fell victims to their own excess of detect anything like tremor on the part of courage by impaling_themselves on the his mahout. Frequently a good elephant | buck's sharp horns. In comparison with may be disgraced by the nervousness of these exciting chases in the days of his his mahout, nothing being so contagious youth and early manhood, his exploits in as fear." After this testimony it seems pursuit of the wapiti of North America reasonable to think that the elephant is seem almost tame and free from peril. as much superior in intelligence to the Probably there are many people who will dog as the mahout is to the elephant. take a nearer and deeper interest in his description of the deer-drive at Blair Athol when five hundred red deer were urged along almost in a line towards their destruction by the organized skill of the keepers and beaters. The driving of the large herds of the red deer on the hills belonging to the Duke of Athol was brought to such a pitch of perfection that it could be predicted almost with certainty at what minute the horns of the leading stags would be seen coming over the brow of the hill. But Sir S. Baker is at his best when he tells how he was able at Blair Athol to exhibit his old Ceylon tactics in hunting a stag on foot with the aid of two of the duke's deerhounds. The chase was brief but exciting, and the ground rather favored the hunter, whilst the assembled spectators could see all that passed. The deer took refuge in the river, where it was brought to bay by the

Concerning leopards of the ordinary kind, Sir S. Baker has not much to say that is new. The leopard's power of climbing up a tree makes it a more insidious and dangerous animal than a tiger to men and beast in the villages in which it takes up its abode. The cheetah, or hunting leopard of India, is totally different in shape from all other leopards. At the courts of the independent native princes of India trained cheetahs are usually kept for hunting wild antelopes. The cheetah is taken out on a cart drawn by bullocks to a spot within sight of some unsuspicious black buck, and after two or three stupendous bounds it generally seizes and kills its prey. But Sir S. Baker had the good fortune to see a coursing match in which a cheetah had to hunt a black buck at full speed for about six hundred yards, and eventually pulled it

dogs, until, with Sir S. Baker's encouragement, they went in and seized the animal by the ears, whilst he gave the coup de grâce with his favorite hunting-knife. But there was one among the spectators who was not pleased. Sandy Macarra, the head-keeper, who had trained the dogs to bay but not to seize, indignantly remarked: "Weel, you've just ruined the dogs for ever, and there'll be nae hauding them from the deer now. They'll just spoil the flesh and tear the deer to pieces."

that attacked it. It is curious that the American buffalo or bison, which is a much more terrific animal than the African buffalo in its appearance, should be of an entirely different character, so that Sir S. Baker describes it as "a perfectly harmless creature, which will never offend unless previously attacked."

It would be a grave omission to conclude this paper without some notice of the wild buffalo which Sir S. Baker hunted in Ceylon and India and Africa, and also in America, where the bison is called the buffalo. There are several varieties of the buffalo proper, but all are remarkable for their formidable horns and almost invulnerable heads. When the sportsman has occasion to go forth to battle against a wild buffalo on foot, he will do well to study what Sir S. Baker has written on this subject: "It must be understood that when a vicious animal is your vis-à-vis, the duel has commenced, and your shot must be delivered as "a settler." If you miss, or if the shot be uncertain in its effect, the buffalo will in most instances charge. The charge of a buffalo is a very serious matter. Many animals charge when infuriated, but they can generally be turned by a shot, though they may not be mortally wounded. But a buffalo is a devil incarnate when it has once decided upon the offensive. Nothing will then turn it—it must be actually stopped by death, sudden and instantaneous, as nothing else will stop it. If not killed it will assuredly destroy its adversary. There is no creature in existence that is so determined to stamp out the life of its oppo-ways govern the world." nent. Should it succeed in overthrowing its antagonist, it will not only gore the body with its horns, but it will try to tear it to pieces, and will kneel upon the lifeless form, and stamp on it with its hoofs until the mutilated remains are disfigured beyond recognition. I have killed some hundreds of these animals, and I never regret their destruction, as they are usually vicious and most dangerous brutes, whose ferocity is totally uncalled for." Perhaps Sir S. Baker carries his enmity to the buffalo a little too far, for it must not be forgotten that the courage and strength of the Buffalo make it a dangerous enemy to the prowling tiger, whilst one of his own pictures shows us a wounded bull buffalo fighting desperately against three lions

Want of space has led to the omission of any mention of such formidable beasts as the rhinoceros, the bear, and the wild boar, to say nothing of a large number of the smaller animals, regarding whose ways Sir S. Baker has so much to tell. But the reader must go to Sir S. Baker's book if he wishes fully to enjoy and appreciate it. When Sir S. Baker occasionally pauses to moralize on his subject he is both instructive and consistent. It will be safest to conclude with his own words, in which he repeats and enforces his favorite doctrines thus: "The lover of nature will never tire of studying her ways. When young he will wonder and admire; when old he will reflect but still admire. In all his studies he will discover one great ruling power of individual self, whether among the brute creation or the vegetable world. Of the civilized world I say nothing. In his wanderings as a naturalist he will remember that, should he endeavor to study in their secluded haunts the wild beasts and their ways, the law of force will always be present. It will accordingly be wise to secure the force beforehand upon his own side, and no more trusty and dependable agent can be found than a double-barrelled 577 rifle to burn six drams of powder with a bullet of pure lead of six hundred and fifty grains. This professional adviser will confirm him in the theory that the law of force will al

C. T. BUCKLAND.

From Punch.

AT THE REGENT STREET TUSSAUD'S.

BEFORE the effigy of Dr. Koch, who is represented in the act of examining a test-tube with the expression of bland blamelessness peculiar to wax models. Well-informed Visitor. That's Dr. Koch, making his great discovery!

Unscientific V. What did he discover? Well-inf. V. Why, the Consumption Bacillus. He's got it in that bottle he's holding up.

logue a mine of useful information). Look, An Aunt (who finds the excellent cataConstantine's Cat, as seen in the 'Nights "Here we have Bobby, dear (reading). of Straparola,' an Italian romancist, whose Before a scene representing "The Home book was translated into French in the Life at Sandringham."