286 ikinQB of tbe 1Rofc, IRffle, anfc (Bun 



the qualifications of a lion-hunter if one only has 

 " naturally a turn for that sort of thing " ! 



I must candidly confess that Gordon Cumming's 

 sentiment is frequently nauseating. He is for ever 

 commiserating the fate of the animals he kills, till one 

 feels inclined to exclaim in exasperation, " What the 

 devil did you kill the beast for, if it makes you snivel to 

 contemplate its death ? " " Poor old bull ! I could not 

 help pitying him ! " is the sort of thing which one finds 

 ad nauseam in Gordon Cumming's volumes. Here, for 

 example, is a piece of gush which is sickening : " It was 

 a princely old buck. On beholding him I was struck 

 with wonder and delight. My heart beat with excitement. 

 I would have given half what I possessed in this world 

 for a broadside at that lovely antelope." 



But for aesthetic enjoyment of the spectacle of 

 pain, worthy almost of Nero, commend me to the 

 following : 



" We followed the spoor through level forest in an 

 easterly direction, when the leading party overran the 

 spoor, and casts were made for its recovery. Presently 

 I detected an excited native beckoning violently a little 

 to my left, and cantering up to him, he said that he had 

 seen the elephant. He led me through the forest a few 

 hundred yards, when, clearing a wait-a-bit, I came full 

 in view of the tallest and largest bull elephant I had 

 ever seen. He stood broadside to me, at upwards of a 

 hundred yards, and his attention at the moment was 

 occupied with the dogs, which, unaware of his proximity, 

 were rushing past him, while the old fellow seemed to 

 gaze at their unwonted appearance with surprise. 



