64 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



of the beaters, and was looked upon as no sports- 

 man in consequence. He certainly was careless, but 

 as a sportsman he was probably the equal of any man 

 present, for he was well accustomed to track and shoot 

 game, with perhaps only one companion, in regions 

 where there was no other human being within many 

 miles ; and so, forgetting that he was now surrounded 

 by a host of guns and beaters, he made a mistake 

 which might rather have been expected of a novice. 



Those, then, who have once tasted the sweets of 

 pursuing and killing game after their own fashion, 

 are apt to prefer that kind of sport rather than 

 what they can obtain in these islands, and conse- 

 quently spread themselves over the world in search 

 of it. Almost every known country on this planet 

 annually resounds to the crack of the rifle of the 

 British sportsman, or to the bang of his fowling-piece ; 

 and his twin brother the explorer still finds new 

 hunting-grounds as the better known ones become 

 used up. Amongst the least known and least fre- 

 quented of all there is Nova Zemla, which has lately 

 been mentioned a good deal in connection with the 

 rescue of Mr Leigh Smith and his merry men, and 

 is likely to be mentioned a good deal more in con- 

 nection with future attempts to reach the North 

 Pole. 



Being far out of the way of all our merchant 

 routes, and only approachable during the summer 

 over the even then ice-encumbered sea, Nova Zemla 



