X INTRODUCTORY SKETCH OF THE ATJTHOR. 



daring and luck. His work is unique of its kind, and it ■will 

 be long before we have another hunter, who, to such a round 

 of adventures, shall possess equal skill in relating them, 



Mr. Gordon Gumming is a tall, rather slender person, 

 about thirty-eight years of age. For some time after his 

 return from South Africa, he preserved a barbaric indiffe- 

 rence to conventionalities, and astonished Regent Street, by 

 promenading in a sailor's blue shirt. Highland kilt, and a belt 

 garnished Avith knives and pistols, while his hair, which 

 rivalled Absalom's, was confined in a bag of silk netting. 

 Many curious and characteristic anecdotes of him are related 

 by his London acquaintances. At present he is nightly 

 repeating, to crowded audiences, the story of his hunting 

 .ife, illustrated with panoramic views, and with the skulls 

 horns, and hides of his slaughtered victims. A London 

 editor says : '• He talks, with the easy familiarity of a 

 Doudoir, of life-tussles with cobras and lions, making small 

 drawing-room jokes about his old enemies, and occasionally 

 catching up a date by easy reference to his hundredth 

 elephant encounter." 



a T. 



Jew York, J\rovember, 1855. 



