io SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP. 



heads of every variety were to be seen ; the greater 

 number shot by himself or his brothers, excepting a 

 very fine series of sambur shot by General Douglas 

 Hamilton. Amongst them bison, wild boar, moufflon, 

 Neilgherry ibex, Pyrenean bouquetin, and every known 

 variety of red deer, and a collection of Himalayan and 

 Thibetan animals, including markor, barahsing, ovis 

 ammon, burrel, etc., shot by his brother Harry, with a 

 grand series of roe's heads killed by his brother Basil, 

 and over the chimney-piece in the hall the huge horns 

 of an Irish elk and two enormous German red deer, 

 which he had purchased. Besides these were cases 

 containing two of the tigers he had killed in India, and 

 the famous black panther, and, most valued of all, the 

 monster tusk of the great elephant, whose mighty bones, 

 brought home from India a year after, lay in weighty 

 massiveness round the foot of the billiard table. Any 

 fresh guest, paying a visit to Colebrooke, was invited to 

 put up with one hand the largest bone a feat difficult 

 of attainment, not on account of its weight (56 Ibs.), 

 but owing to its awkward size and shape, requiring 

 knack and skill in balancing it. Most of us, I 

 remember, managed to do so, but many powerful men 

 found it difficult until they had acquired the knack 

 of it. 



Amid such surroundings, with his young wife and 

 family, Brooke spent the first seven years of his married 

 life ; in the winter of 1868-69 he had to go abroad on 

 account of Lady Brooke's health. It was in that year 

 that the first symptoms of her delicacy became 

 apparent, and they were recommended to winter in 

 the Riviera, and chose Bordighera, where his brother 

 Basil joined him. 



Along this coast run the Maritime Alps, and the 

 brothers found ample room for sport after wolves and 



