34 2 Sporting Sketches 



mountain sheep and goat; for many more men 

 show one or other of these as trophy of their own 

 winning than ever bore rifle through the lonely 

 ranges of moose and caribou, or climbed to the elk's 

 strongholds or the cloud-swept pasturage of sheep 

 and goat. 



That there is, however, a stanch fraternity of good 

 men and true iron-nerved, hardy fellows who 

 find the purest enjoyment of their lives in the pur- 

 suit of big game, goes without saying. Such men 

 love the rifle and the difficulties and dangers ever 

 attendant upon its use on legitimate game. They 

 penetrate to the uttermost parts of the earth to gratify 

 their thirst for adventure ; they toil like galley-slaves, 

 endure pain, pestilence, and famine, battle and pos- 

 sibly sudden death in fine, willingly brave all those 

 evils which stay-at-homes pray to be delivered from. 

 This love of adventure and dangerous sport is beyond 

 doubt a valuable trait in our national character. 

 It encourages self-reliance, courage, judgment, and 

 rugged health, helps to build up a race of manly 

 men, and very frequently contributes invaluable in- 

 formation concerning the resources, etc., of little- 

 known regions; for the successful hunter of big 

 game must be a close observer, and as often as not 

 he is a man of influence when at home, whose state- 

 ments are respected whenever he describes whither 

 his quest of adventure led him and what he saw by 

 the way. Something of the spirit of the Viking, of 

 Columbus, Cartier, Standish, of the many iron men 

 of sea and land whose names glitter like stars through 

 the sombre clouds of early Amerjcan history, lingers 

 with us yet, and certainly will not die before the final 



