xx FOREWORD TO FIRST EDITION 



exploration of the unknown. The icy polar seas, 

 the steaming equatorial forests, the waterless 

 tropical deserts, the vast plains of wind-rippled 

 grass, the wooded northern wilderness, the stupen- 

 dous mountain masses of the Andes and the 

 Himalayas — in short, all regions, however frown- 

 ing and desolate, were penetrated by the restless 

 English in their eager quest for big game. Not 

 content with the sport afforded by the rifle, 

 whether ahorse or afoot, the English in India 

 developed the use of the spear and in Ceylon the 

 use of the knife as the legitimate weapons with 

 which to assail the dangerous quarry of the jungle 

 and the plain. There were hunters of other 

 nationalities, of course — Americans, Germans, 

 Frenchmen ; but the English were the most 

 numerous of those whose exploits were best worth 

 recounting, and there was among them a larger 

 proportion of men gifted with the power of nar- 

 ration. Naturally under such circumstances a 

 library of nineteenth century hunting must be 

 mainly one of English authors. 



All this was widely different in the preceding 

 centuries. From the Middle Ages to the period 

 of the French Revolution hunting was carried on 

 with keener zest in continental Europe than in 

 England ; and the literature of the chase was far 

 richer in the French, and even in the German, 

 tongues than in the English. 



