52 Mr. Henry Walker's Lecture : 



Such is the vision we get of the country of the ancient 

 Thames Valley in this our Saturday afternoon ramble at 

 Ilford by descending some twenty feet dow^n into the old 

 and deserted bed of the river on the Essex shore. 



But to our story. The great annual elephant-hunt in 

 the Ilford district of the Thames Valley came off about six 

 weeks before our arrival. On that occasion,, although no 

 elephants were taken, no less than five head of bison 

 rewarded the prowess of Sir Antonio Brady and his party. 

 These creatures were of a celebrated and historical species. 

 It was the huge shaggy bison, and the great horned urus, 

 we remember, that startled the Roman soldiers when first 

 they penetrated the forests of Germany and Britain. 

 These wild and primitive European cattle were occa- 

 sionally captured and exhibited alive in the shows of the 

 Roman amphitheatre. They are described by a modern 

 poet, in the well-known lines, — 



Mightiest of all the beasts of chase 



That roam in woody Caledon, 

 Crushing the forest in his race, 



The mountain bull comes thundering on. 



Sir Antonio may well feel proud to have bagged such 

 rare and notable creatures as these. We who have come 

 down from London to-day can hardly expect to enjoy such 

 sport as this. The gigantic game of the Essex wilds has 

 been thinned by so recent an invasion of tliese famous 

 geological preserves, and we find ourselves left to unearth 

 the smaller prey that may still be lurking around. But 

 the game which we have so far bagged, humble as it is 

 in its powers of resistance, will at least serve to commemo- 

 rate an afternoon spent in this wonderful country for the 

 sportsman and naturalist, the old Thames Valley. 



So far, then, our afternoon's sport in these old Essex 

 hunting-grounds has not been marked by moving accidents 

 or hair-breadth 'scapes. As yet, no tusky thick-skinned 

 monarch of the herd has charged us through the hedgerows, 

 trumpeting furiously with proboscis aloft, to avenge our 

 intrusion ; nor as yet have any of our cortege drawn their 

 tulwars ready if needs be to ham-string the monster on his 



