FOREWORD TO FIRST EDITION xxix 



object is to make huge bags at small cost of effort, 

 and with the maximum of ease, no good quality 

 save marksmanship being required. Laying stress 

 upon the mere quantity of game killed, and the 

 publication of the record of slaughter, are sure 

 signs of unhealthy decadence in sportsmanship. 

 As far as possible the true hunter, the true lover 

 of big game and of life in the wilderness, must be 

 ever ready to show his own power to shift for 

 himself. The greater his dependence upon others 

 for his sport the less he deserves to take high rank 

 in the brotherhood of rifle, horse, and hound. 

 There was a very attractive side to the hunting of 

 the great mediaeval lords, carried on with an elabo- 

 rate equipment and stately ceremonial, especially as 

 there was an element of danger in coming to close 

 quarters with the quarry at bay ; but after all, no 

 form of hunting has ever surpassed in attractive- 

 ness the life of the wilderness wanderer of our 

 own time — the man who with simple equipment, 

 and trusting to his own qualities of head, heart, 

 and hand, has penetrated to the uttermost regions 

 of the earth, and single-handed slain alike the 

 wariest and the grimmest of the creatures of the 

 waste. 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT. 



The White House, 



February 15, 1904. 



