Sir Samuel MF3tte iJBafeer 559 



you require him ; but never use a rod or you would 

 disgrace the hickory." 



I have given elsewhere in these pages abundant proof 

 that this love of sport has frequently been allied with 

 the most brilliant intellectual gifts and the highest moral 

 character. And I am sure that there is no sportsman 

 who will not endorse these words in which Sir Samuel 

 Baker sums up the result of his own knowledge : 



" I have had a great experience of thorough sports- 

 men, and I can safely say that I never saw one who 

 was not a straightforward, honourable man, and who 

 would scorn to take mean advantage of man or animal. 

 In fact, all real sportsmen whom I have met have been 

 really tender-hearted men men who shun cruelty to 

 an animal and who are easily moved by a tale of 

 distress." 



And now let us see how Samuel Baker carried out his 

 own ideas of sportsmanship. 



His early life was aimless. He had no need to take 

 up any profession, and though he ostensibly adopted 

 the calling of an engineer he had no serious intention of 

 devoting himself to it. He married in 1843, when he 

 was two-and-twenty, and two years later he set out for 

 Ceylon to hunt elephants. 



Ceylon was then the paradise of the elephant-hunter. 

 So numerous were the great beasts that they were a 

 public pest they overran the country and ruined the 

 rice-fields. The Government offered large rewards for 

 their slaughter, but until Baker appeared upon the scene 

 there was no serious attempt to lessen their numbers. 

 I think it is not too much to say that Baker was the 



