74 GAMEKEEPERS AND GILLIES 



are very troublesome, and that it is well for our nearest, 

 the gorilla, to be kept in his place. Some consolation 

 also may be derived from a sentence in Mr. Beddard's 

 learned contribution to the Cambridge Natural History. 

 Speaking of the great throat pouches which enable the 

 gorilla to produce appalling howls, he gives a figure of 

 the human larynx, showing traces which 'remain to 

 testify to a former howling apparatus in the ancestors of 

 man.' Blessed be that saving word 'former,' else what 

 might the House of Commons not become on occasions ? 



XXI 



In the retrospect to which the elderly sportsman turns 

 Game so ^ en an( ^ so fondly, certain figures stand out 



keepers very clear, guides and ministers to his pleasure 

 and Gillies unsparing critics, mayhap, of his perform- 

 ance, but ever ready with hand and head to contribute 

 to his triumphs, sharing with him that special kind of 

 comradeship which, engendered only in the open air, 

 cannot grow to perfection unless under one of three 

 conditions campaigning, seafaring, or the pursuit of 

 wild animals. 



Taking the last of these three what paramount 

 wisdom and authority we, as boys, attributed to hunts- 

 men, gamekeepers, and gillies, yielding to their precepts 

 the deference due to prophetic utterance. In youth, we 

 emulated their endurance and prowess, accepting without 

 question their dogma upon the nature of beast, bird, and 

 fish; and now that youth is beyond recall, do we not 

 cherish each quaint turn of phrase which comes to mind, 

 and envy the simple, concentrated lives into which 



