HINTS ON EQUIPMENT, ETC. 363 



after his first shot at a grizzly bear, and I believe he 

 still holds the record for the distance to and up the 

 nearest tree. Certainly I never met anybody who 

 more fully recognised the merciful dispensation of 

 Providence in the fact that ursa ferox is unable to 

 climb. 



Every rifle should be fitted with a sling. Indeed, 

 if I were not afraid of English public opinion I would 

 go further and say every gun also. As it is I will 

 only say that every gun has one in Germany, and 

 I do not recollect ever seeing a loaded gun pointed 

 at my head there, which is a great deal more than 

 I could say in my native country. Only those who 

 have shot a season or two on the Continent know 

 what a grind it is to go back to our English plan of 

 always having the gun in one's hand. 



b. Knives. 



There is a ridiculous idea among modern English 

 sportsmen, that the carrying of a couteau-de-chasse 

 is "theatrical and foreign-looking, you know." Let 

 those who think so read the honest and manly re- 

 cantation of General Kinloch, written after a quarter 

 of an hour with a wounded boar and without a knife* 

 Man, unarmed, is inferior to every wild animal, 

 and where is the sportsman to be found who can say 

 he will never be caught with an empty rifle ? 



Not only should a knife be carried whenever there 

 is a possibility of dangerous game, but also whenever 

 any four-footed game larger than a hare may be 

 * " Large Game of Thibet and Bengal." 



