Preface. 



No one, but he who has partaken thereof, can under- 

 stand the keen delight of hunting in lonely lands. For 

 him is the joy of the horse well ridden and the rifle well 

 held ; for him the long days of toil and hardship, resolutely 

 endured, and crowned at the end with triumph. In after 

 years there shall come forever to his mind the memory of 

 endless prairies shimmering in the bright sun ; of vast 

 snow-clad wastes lying desolate under gray skies ; of the 

 melancholy marshes ; of the rush of mighty rivers ; of the 

 breath of the evergreen forest in summer ; of the croon* 

 ing of ice-armored pines at the touch of the winds of 

 winter; of cataracts roaring between hoary mountain 

 masses ; of all the innumerable sights and sounds of the 

 wilderness ; of its immensity and mystery ; and of the 

 silences that brood in its still depths. 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 



SAGAMORE HILL, 



June, 1893. 



