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or the Southern Transvaal, in a country where the cold is much more severe in winter) then in any part of South Africa where lions exist to-day. This bears out the opinion I have always held that the luxuriant growth of mane, which is general amongst the lions which one sees in the menageries of Western Europe, is due to climate-to the influence of cold and damp. The theory that the manes of wild lions get destroyed by thorns will not hold water, as on the high plateaux of Matabeleland and Mashonaland, where there are no thorns or thick bush of any sort, I have seen many lions with very poor manes; but, on the other hand, it is on these same high plateaux where the climate is cold in the winter and never excessively hot, that the £54 finest wild lion skins I have seen-with the exception of the one I have mentioned, whose original owner was shot some eighty years ago, much further south-were obtained, and I do not believe that in the hot coast lands of South-Eastern Africa lions ever develop the long flowing manes that are occasionally met with on the colder plateaux of the interior.

Besides the variation in the growth and coloration of their manes, lions also differ considerably in the colour of their coats, some being light yellow, and others of a much darker shade. I once killed a lioness which was just about to give birth to three cubs, which I took out of her womb fully developed and quite alive. Two of these little creatures were males and the third a female. The latter, and one of the males, were very dark, almost blackish in general colour, whilst the other male was yellow; and I believe that had these lion cubs lived to be born and had they reached maturity, they would have become, the one a darkcoated, dark-maned lion, and the other a yellow-maned animal, each representing a so-called variety or species.

In captivity, lionesses frequently give birth to from four to six cubs, but in a wild state the usual number is certainly three, and of these a large number, for some reason or other, never reach maturity. Possibly they die in teething, as it is rare to see a lioness with more than two wellgrown cubs, whilst, often, apparently only one out of the original three is reared.

Some natural law must of necessity exist to keep within bounds the numbers of such destructive animals; otherwise in course of time they would in parts of Africa have become more numerous than the game on which they preyed, as they were absolutely masters of the situation in uninhabited districts before the advent of European sportsmen, the few scattered natives they happened to meet never interfering with them. They would thus at last have exterminated all the wild animals they were capable of killing, and would then have been forced to prey upon one another, with the final result of the battle between the Kilkenny cats.

If we take a district, however, like the country north and south of the Pungwé river, which may be said to have been in the hands of nature from times immemorial, until within the last few years, we find that no no such catastrophe has occurred, the balance of nature having been maintained in such a way that, although lions were very numerous, their numbers had been kept down by natural law to a figure strictly proportionate to that of the game on which they lived. [LION Measurements. As to the size and weight attained to by wild lions, I am sorry that I have not the series of statistics which I might have had had I carefully measured and weighed all those animals which have fallen to my rifle. What appeared to me to be a very large lion, which was, I think, the largest, though perhaps not the heaviest, of those I have killed, stood 3 feet 8 inches in perpendicular height at the shoulder, whilst the length in a straight line between two pegs, one of which was driven into the ground at his nose and the other at the end of his tail, was 9. feet II inches. His weight was 410 pounds, but he might have weighed considerably more once, as he was an old animal, a good deal past his prime, though his coat was in very good order, and he carried a handsome mane. The peggedout skin of this lion measured II feet 9 inches from the nose to the tip of the tail.

The greatest length of a pegged-out skin I have ever known was 12 feet 3 inches, and it is the exception for the pegged-out skins of South African lions to measure more than II feet. The skull of the large lion I have mentioned as standing 3 feet 8 inches at the shoulder, which is now in the collection of the British Museum of Natural History, measures 15 inches in length and 101 inches in breadth, and weighs 5 pounds now that it is thoroughly dried out and cleaned.

The Roar. One of the most notable characteristics of the lion is his roar, which is one of the grandest and most aweinspiring sounds in nature. But fully to appreciate this magnificent music of the wilderness one must hear several lions roaring in unison, in the immediate vicinity of one's camp; and it is quite possible to have passed several years in the hunting grounds of Africa without having met with such an experience, although lions would of course frequently have been heard roaring at a distance of a mile away and upwards. The volume of sound produced by four or five lions all roaring together more than a mile away will, even at that distance, be so great as to make one believe that they are within one hundred yards; but when they are really close, the hiss of their breath can be heard at the end of the grunts with which each lion concludes his actual roaring. To compare the booming call of the male ostrich with the roar of the lion appears to me altogether unjust to the latter, as an ostrich calling three hundred yards away could only be mistaken for a lion roaring in the far distance, and could never be mistaken at all by an experienced ear, as the ostrich has only three notes, the first two short and the third long drawn out; and WOUNDED LION.

A LION PHOTOGRAPHED BY FLASHLIGHT.

A LIONESS APPROACHING HER KILL.

BRIXTON, S.W. [Photographs by A. Radclyffe Dugmore.

THE ENTRANCE TO A SERIES OF LIONS' DENS. although the quality of the sound is somewhat similar, the call as a whole is absolutely different from the roaring of the lion, which, beginning with a low humming purr. rises gradually into a magnificent volume of sound, and then dies down and ends in a few short hissing grunts. In my opinion, lions roar freely only when full and satisfied; and when going down to drink in this pleasant frame of mind they often stop at intervals of about ten minutes and, after indulging in a good roar, again proceed on their way. At other times they will roar all night long intermittently round the carcase of an animal on which they are feasting. Usually, therefore, I consider that the loud roaring of lions denotes a sense of satisfaction; but sometimes it must mean defiance, as I remember once hearing lions roaring loudly some three miles from my camp, and on riding out at daylight to look for them, found first of all a single big male, and then another male in the possession of four females, which I feel sure the former was anxious to annex, and the latter determined to hold for his own, each of them giving vent to his feelings by roaring, in which the females very likely joined. When a lion comes prowling round an encampment or a waggon outspanned in the wilderness, with intent to seize an ox or horse, or some other domestic animal, he does not make a sound, and his presence is generally first realised when he has actually got hold of his victim. I presume therefore that the same very natural tactics are pursued when he is hunting for game, and that at such times also he does not go about announcing his whereabouts by roaring.

Sometimes I have heard lions emit a kind of low purring growl, which it is very difficult to locate. Such low growls I fancy sound a note of disappointment at not being able to find game, or of chagrin after being baffled, perhaps by the watchfulness of dogs, in an attempt to raid an encampment.

Characteristics when Hunted. - When a lion stands at bay, he holds his head low down between his shoulders, and, with his eyes fixed on his adversary, gives vent to a quick succession of deep grunting roars, twitching his tail all the time from side to side with little nervous jerks. Should he suddenly throw his tail in the air straight and stiff as a bar of steel, then look out, for he means coming. I have never known a lion throw his tail up thus two or three times in quick succession without immediately charging, though I have seen many charge without this preliminary warning.

When a lion stands at bay, it is worthy of UN was still [LION remark that he does not snarl like a leopard, but holds his mouth slightly open, the great canine teeth of the upper jaw being nearly hidden by the heavy jowl. But his eyes scintillate like living fire, and altogether his appearance is most determined and business-like. When he actually charges, he does so to an accompaniment of hoarse, grunting roars. He does not come on with rather rushes on to than springs upon his great bounds, but at a heavy gallop, and prey. I have been chased many times when on horseback by lions, most of which had not been wounded but only irritated by being interfered with. These lions usually turned and stood at bay when the horse some distance from them, and, when they charged, the horse always had a start of from sixty to over one hundred yards. At first I think the lions always gained, and sometimes got up pretty close; but not being able to maintain the speed of their first rush, they soon began to lose ground, and as they saw the horse gradually drawing away from them, gave up the pursuit in disgust. The horses I was riding on these occasions were not racers, but good smart animals with a fair turn of speed. A slow, heavily built horse would doubtless be unable to get away from a lion, though, even should he be overtaken, he would not necessarily be pulled down, as I know of many instances when a horse has got away (sometimes with a rider on his back) after having been seized on either side of the hind quarters by the claws of its pursuer. This is not very wonderful, as it must be remembered that both horse and lion are going at their utmost speed.

As the latter draws up close under the tail of the former, he is just able by a great effort to raise his fore quarters from the ground, and clutch the hind quarters of the horse with his armed paws. But the knifelike sharpness of his claws prevents his making good his hold on the body of a heavy animal going at great speed. They tear long deep gashes through skin and flesh as if they were razors, but they seldom hold in such a stern chase; and the horse goes on, possibly a trifle quicker than before, whilst the lion falls heavily back, and loses so much ground that it seldom renews the chase. as Time was when no man dare cast a slur upon the courage of a lion; and even now brave as a lion." Dr. Livingstone was the a brave man is popularly said to be " first, I think, who deposed the king of beasts from his high estate, making him out to be the veriest cur, and even going so far as to say that in appearance he was only somewhat larger than the largest dog."

From a Photograph by A. Radclyffe Dugmore.

LIONESS.

THE TAT BRIXTON, S.W.

LION] Since then some other writers and talkers have followed suit, and nowadays it is not uncommon to hear the lion spoken of as a cowardly brute that can be hunted and killed with far less danger than is likely to be incurred in shooting buffaloes. a With this estimate I cannot agree. Some lions doubtless are cowardly, but I have known others that were just the opposite; and if the average character of his species be taken, I unhesitatingly say that, speaking generally, the lion, at any rate in South and South-Eastern Africa, is a far more dangerous animal to meddle with than a buffalo. True, many men have been killed or badly hurt by wounded buffaloes-or, perhaps, by buffaloes unwounded by them, indeed, but smarting under wounds inflicted by other hunters or by lions-but not nearly so many in the parts of Africa I am acquainted with, as have been killed or mauled by lions: and yet for every lion that has been killed in South Africa during the last twenty-five years, at least fifty buffaloes have been accounted for. This is a point that is usually forgotten or ignored by those who depreciate the courage of the lion, as is the following fact-namely, that inexperienced sportsmen, and sometimes men who ought to know better, will often take liberties with a wounded buffalo that they would not attempt with a lion.

Once he is wounded, the African buffalo becomes a vicious animal that it is highly dangerous to follow into long grass, high reeds, or thick bush. But it is often done, and the astonishing thing is that more accidents do not happen than actually occur under such circumstances. Few men, however, would be mad enough to follow a wounded lion into really dense cover without dogs. A buffalo will seldom charge unless he sees his pursuer close to him; but a lion, if vicious, will often charge from a distance of over a hundred yards. Then, too, should there be a tree handy, a buffalo can be evaded by swinging one's body a few feet off the ground, but it would be impossible to get high enough up a tree to save oneself from a charging lion. These opinions regarding the relative danger of lion and buffalo hunting I put forward with all deference; but I may remark that I have had a considerable experience with lions and a very large experience with buffaloes, whose character I think I know as well as most people, having killed well over 200 of them, mostly on foot. I do not think that there is much danger in attacking a lion or lions in the first instance, although, should there be several of them together, it is always on the cards that when one is fired at, another of the party will instantly charge, a contingency which, though it has never happened to myself, has befallen men I have known, sometimes with very disagreeable results. The great thing is to be cool and careful, and endeavour to give a lion a deadly wound with the first shot. He usually gives one a good chance, standing broadside on, with head turned sideways, quietly scanning the intruder on his preserves; or, if he has been chased on horseback and brought to bay, facing directly towards his pursuer, with lowered head, growling savagely.

In the second case no time should be lost in dismounting and firing, as it is impossible to tell at what instant he may make up his mind to charge. If he is fairly hit, all the charging is taken out of him for the moment, and if shot through the heart or lungs he will succumb very quickly. If not instantly floored with a broken back or neck, or unless the shot has shattered one of its hind legs (in which latter case the wounded animal will spin round, biting at the injured part), he will turn and run for it, and every effort should then be made to keep him in sight, as he will soon stop and hide behind a small bush or tuft of grass (and it is extraordinary in what thin and scanty cover a lion can conceal himself) and may be expected to charge if followed up.

Some dogs are of the utmost service in lion-hunting, but such animals must be trained to the work, and be both bold and cautious at the same time. A very plucky dog is useless, as he just rushes in and is instantly killed. What is wanted is a dog that will run close up to a lion barking furiously, but not attempting to tackle him. Such an animal will soon bring a lion to bay, and not only divert his attention from the hunter, but also let the latter know where he is, and very likely bring the furious brute charging out of thick cover at the heels of his insignificant assailant. Such dogs are, however, rare, and, to a hunter, worth their weight in gold.

Armament. As for the best rifle for lion shooting, that is a subject upon which almost everyone has his own opinion.

Large-bore rifles are certainly not necessary, as a lion is not only a thin-skinned animal without heavy bones, but is also much less tenacious of life than any of the African antelopes. I have killed most of my lions with a 450-bore rifle, by Gibbs, of Bristol, using a hollow-pointed 360-grain bullet and 100 grains black powder; but should I ever kill another of these grand brutes, which I am afraid is unlikely, it will be with one of the new small-bore rifles, which, on account of their low trajectory and great killing powers with a good form of bullet, I should now be inclined to use against all but the heaviest classes of game, in preference to any other weapon.

F. C. SELOUS.

COPYRIGHT IN U.S.A.

IN SOMALILAND: - There are plenty of lions still to be found in the unexplored parts of the Somali plateau, and in Gallaland, but owing to the attacks of sportsmen they are rare within the explored parts of the coast belt.

To be sure of getting them, it is necessary to march from 150 to 200 miles inland, and [LION about half a mile apart, with others dotted about further away, the writer has generally sent out parties before sunrise in every direction, each composed of one or two camelmen, to bring in news from the kraals.

If a lion has been heard to roar during the night, a party has also been sent in that direction from camp to search for tracks on all the soft ground, for it is well known by natives that a lion, being an animal with comparatively tender feet, will not choose rocky ground for his midnight prowl when he can get a stretch of sand. It is probable on this account that in the old days, A FINE LION SHOT IN SOMALILAND. NOTE THE ALMOST TOTAL ABSENCE OF MANE. then to strike into unexplored territory, the arrangements being, of course, formidable and expensive, including, as they do, a suitable armed escort. As some of the best lion-ground is far from water, several camels must be devoted to its transport. There should be enough water to supply the caravan, which may number from 20 to 50 camels, and nearly as many men, for 7 or 8 days. The camels, of course, can do without water for IO days or so. Once established in good sporting country, water may be sent for if the nearest wells are not more than 30 miles distant, and the camels may be watered at the same time.

The pursuit of lion-hunting is distinct from other sports in its character. Unlike tiger-hunting, which can be undertaken with the help of elephants and beaters, the hunting of Somali lions is carried out by tracking on foot, or with a steady shooting pony. It is necessary for the sportsman to live a great deal among the kraals of the nomads, for lions follow them, and it is only there that information can be obtained.

Pitching the camp between two kraals, 1884 to 1887, when in Somaliland lions were plentiful in the broken country of the coast belt, which is intersected by dry sandy river-beds, these were dotted for miles with the footprints of lions which had promenaded all night up and down in small troops, lying in the reed-beds by day. The writer once counted the footprints of eight lions together, only one, however, being a fullgrown male. Lambeth Public Libraries Considering the number of lions that were about, there was very little of the roaring at night and molesting of hunters' camps that we hear so much of in accounts from South Africa.

When, after the early breakfast, news has been collected from the various kraals - there may be a story of a lion having taken a sheep from one kraal by dragging it through the thorn zeriba, or an ox or a camel, missed the evening before, may be found to have been eaten by lions when searched for in the morning-the sportsman starts out for the scene of the depredation with a guide and two hunters, and a man to carry the waterbottle and a haversack of eatables and spare ammunition. Opinions LION] differ as to weapons, but the writer, who is an advocate of the larger bores, prefers, in ordinary open jungle where shots may be got at from 50 to 150 yards, a double 577 Express rifle to be carried in his own hand, and a ten-bore "Paradox" gun in the hands of an attendant, who should keep close up. The other native hunter may carry a light Snider and do the tracking.

When organising the caravan at the coast, a cartridge-belt should be given to each of the hunters, to carry the ordinary escort cartridges and one or two cartridges for each of the spare sporting rifles. Thus, whatever rapid changes are made among gun-bearers, each man is fully armed.

When about to track a wounded lion through thick cover, the weapons might change hands, for the ten-bore "Paradox" would be the best to stop a charge in bush when the lion might be first seen when from IO to 30 yards away.

The tracks made during the night and the trail where the victim has been dragged over the sand having been found, the party starts at a fast walk. Rubber tennis shoes are the best for this work, and natives should leave any conspicuously white parts of their clothing behind them, also take off their noisy sandals, and only talk in whispers. The hunters should keep the track until the presence of vultures in a tree, a jackal running across the path, or perhaps a growl, proclaims that the lion is close in front. From the indications, the natives will know whether the lion is still at his meal, or has been disturbed, or is sleeping in a bush close by. If the lion is still at the carcase, he may afford a steady shot before he sees the hunter; or if he bounds away with a growl before being sighted, a dash forward where the bushes are thinnest may give a hurried shot as he makes off. By daylight he will usually, however, be lying up not far away from the carcase in a patch of durr grass, a kind which grows about 5 feet high; and if there is a spreading mimosa tree in the centre of the patch, and if, after "ringing" the patch (that is, making a complete circuit), it is found that there are tracks of entrance but none of exit, the lion will be resting under that mimosa.

There are now two courses open to the sportsman to creep cautiously in with the ten-bore and try to get a shot at the lion while asleep, the result being that he will almost certainly spring away with a loud "whoof" before he can be sighted-or, the better plan, to post oneself on the further edge of the patch, down wind, and, if possible, in the shade, where one is less conspicuous, with one hunter, and send the other men round to shout and give the lion their wind from a distance, and so drive him out. A third way is to burn the patch of grass, if it is dry enough.

In the course of a long track there will be many such patches of durr grass in the high, stoneless plateau country, which is the best lion-ground. There will be strips of sand between the different patches, and tracks are plainly visible outside the grass.

If, after having sent men round to "ring" a patch, it is found that there are tracks both of entrance and exit, the lion has evidenly gone on, and no time need be wasted, the interior of the patch may be left unexamined, and the tracks may be taken up in the sand beyond. Many patches will be ringed in this way, perhaps for miles, and it may be past noon before the absence of exit tracks shows that the lion has halted.

It is hot and tiring work for the hunters, but if the lion has had a full meal the night before, he is certain to halt at last, and, if he has not got on to stony ground, he will be found. Then with straight shooting, and well-drilled followers-they should be cautioned not to rush forward, native-like, and get in the way either before or after the first shot-the lion is no very difficult beast to kill. 66 دو It is the pent-up excitement after several hours of tracking, the eagerness of the natives, the glare, the intermittent views of the dull-coloured animal through dark, thick thorn-bushes, that all militate against good shooting. A wounded lion will get to the thickest mimosa jungles he can find, where the hunters have to stoop under low, gloomy arches of the spreading and thorny khansa. The party must go in single file, and the pursuit becomes one of considerable danger and excitement. a The place to hit a lion is anywhere in the chest, if in front, or behind the shoulders, if broadside-on. The head-shot in front is uncertain, being liable to glance. A lion hit in the lungs will probably survive some minutes, and if followed up will be found lying dead. Lions have sometimes great vitality for few seconds, having been known to continue a charge for some distance though hit through the heart, and this adds to the danger of following them through dense jungle. Most of the larger animals such as elephants or rhinoceroses, can be avoided by dodging, but little escapes the quick eyes of the cat tribe, and the only thing to do in case of a charge is to stand still and shoot straight.

In the vast wilderness of Ogaden, all broken ground covered with bush, which gradually slopes down from the waterless Somali plateau to the Webbe Shabeyli river, 400 miles inland, lions are numerous, but are harder to bag than those of the flat stoneless plateau country. The sport is here varied by constantly losing the tracks on stony ground or in almost impenetrable thorn-bush, and the odds are in favour of the lion's escape. This country is infested with man-eaters. In such districts much may be done by constructing a zeriba or thorn-shelter, with a loop-hole from which to shoot, and a living bait donkeys are the best-tied up within 6 feet, in front of the loop-hole. The sportsman is shut into this at sunset with bedding, water-bottle, &c., and one attendant, and is let out by pulling in the thorn-branches from outside, in the morning. It is a safe and often successful way of bagging lions, but it is not very interesting, and if it should happen to rain it is a very uncomfortable way of spending the night. Another plan is to spread the bed some 16 feet from the ground, on the flat top of one of the larger mimosa trees.

For night-watching, starlight nights are the best, for lions seem to prefer not to attack the bait by moonlight. One night the writer tied up a camel as a bait, the moon being due to set half an hour before dawn. Nothing happened during the night, but in the dark half-hour the lion attacked the camel, biting it through the neck. The watchers were asleep, and, waking up noisily, drove the lion away before a shot could be fired. It is generally accepted that it is best not to fire till the lion has struck down the bait and is busily engaged on the carcase, affording a certain shot. A tenbore "Paradox" gun would be a good weapon for this sort of work.

At times of drought, say in the Jilal season of Somaliland, from January to March, when one pool may be used by all the game for many miles round, watching over water may be successful if the presence of tracks shows that it is frequented by lions.

It is, moreover, interesting in itself, by reason of the antelopes, other small mammals, and birds which come to drink, and may be watched at leisure and their habits observed. The writer has not found even the strongest moonlight deter animals from drinking, and once bagged in this manner a rhinoceros and a lioness on the same night, and a hyæna and leopard on another occasion at another pool.

In the Somali waterless plateau, the mimosa forests, sometimes thick and sometimes more open and park-like, are varied by wide open treeless grass plains, called ban, and these are roamed over by herds of oryx and Sæmmerring's gazelles. Lions [LION lie up on the edge of the bush by day, hunting out in the open plains by night, and horsemen escorting the droves of camels to pasture in the early morning sometimes find a lion returning to the bush to lie up for the day. Lions, like all cats, though capable of great speed for short distances, are easily winded, and they can be ridden to a standstill; when vedettes should be posted over them, and messengers sent to the nearest sportsman's camp. When attacked in this way, lions are very apt to charge, for the simple reason that they cannot sneak away unobserved as they would do in the bush. A handy pony is useful for this work, steady and able to stand fire.

Somalis hunt the lion by mobbing it on horseback in the open, throwing the spear and shooting poisoned arrows at it; but more commonly the "Midgans," who are the archers, creep up to it in bush and shoot it when busy over a kill. Skins of lions killed by natives are often rendered worthless by the numerous spear-holes inflicted after death. On account of the comparative openness of the African bush, lions are probably more often seen by daylight than are tigers in an Indian jungle. They appear also to be less careful of concealment, and are therefore easier to find and kill on foot.

The writer once found an unwounded lion asleep under a solitary mimosa bush in the open, in broad daylight. It is doubtful whether a tiger would be caught napping in this way. From some personal experience of both, and from knowledge of many individual experiences of friends, the writer has formed the opinion that a lion is rather more prone to charge than a tiger when followed on foot.

The hunting of lions, involving as it does much camping among native kraals waiting for news, in the dusty proximity of herds of camels and cattle and flocks of sheep, if carried out systematically, can seldom be combined with the pursuit of elephants, rhinoceroses, or the finer kinds of antelopes, such as kudu, all of which avoid the neighbourhood of the kraals. When lion-hunting, an occasional leopard, oryx, or gazelle may be bagged; and when, after the rarer game, or when merely travelling, a lion can be picked up now and then.

In systematic lion-hunting near the kraals, there are many fruitless hunts, false intelligence being constantly brought in to the sportsman's camp with a view to "bakshish," and all news should be carefully sifted before it is acted upon. A good lion skin measures about IO feet 2 inches from nose to tip of tail.

H. G. C. SWAYNE.

LOCAL SPORTS] LOCAL SPORTS. -How certain local sports and pastimes originated and became identified with particular districts it is impossible to say and difficult to conjecture. On the other hand, there are athletic and sporting diversions, peculiar to a district, which are clearly the productions of special environment. To this class belong fell racing, tossing the caber, and sheep-dog loosed, and after criticism on the day's transactions and show of stock has been exhausted, marvellous instances are adduced of the sagacity of certain of the curs reposing upon the sanded floor in working their sheep. A match is made, in which Long Ambrose's dog and Scotty Sam's shall attempt to drive a certain number of sheep through a certain gap and pen them within [Photo. by Sport and General. a a LOCAL SPORTS: THE ANNUAL MEETING AT GRASMERE. trials, which, amongst other sports, are hereafter briefly described. The student of his Dickens will recall how Mr. Wemmick, out for out for a professed stroll, exclaimed, "Halloa! Here's a church! Let's go in!

Halloa! Here's a couple of pair of gloves!

Let's put 'em on! Halloa! Here's Miss Skiffins! Let's have a wedding!" If such a series of contingencies could bring about wedding, how naturally should the physical surroundings of the north-west dales of England, coupled with man's instinctive love of contest, suggest the fell race! Halloa! Here's a steep and trackless hillside! Halloa! Here's a prominent point upon it! Halloa! Here's a set of hardy dalesmen, sound in wind and limb, and sure of foot among their native scars!

Let's see which of them can first scramble up to that point and down again! And so the fell race is organised.

Now, step into the room of the village inn at the close of a big north-country sheep fair. Under the genial influence of the cup that cheers-and occasionally inebriates the tongues of convivial shepherds are VOL. III a certain time. And so the sheep-dog trial is instituted.

Next, watch the brawny wood-cutters felling the larches and firs in the wild Highland glen! In the glory of his strength a young kilted giant balances the trunk of a young tree for a moment in his arms, and heaves it as far as he can in the direction of the waiting waggon. Enviously another stalwart attempts to out-throw him. And so tossing the caber is established.

Local sports are closely associated with the village feast-the old-time village feast When toil remitting lent its turn to play, And all the village train, from labour free, Led up their sports beneath the spreading tree- While many a pastime circled in the shade, The young contending as the old surveyed, And many a gamble frolick'd o'er the ground, And sleights of art and feats of strength went round.-GOLDSMITH. a Having once taken root in a certain district, the comparative isolation of the district kept a sport alive through many generations. Speaking generally, as villages have been brought into easier touch with the outer world, many of the local features of their sports have vanished. Enthusiasm for the more widely known national games has penetrated the length and breadth of the land, and the village lads now play league cricket and football on the greens where their fathers exhibited their prowess in purely local forms of athletics. The hilland-dale portions of our island, though not so difficult of access as they were a very short time ago, still remain the most remote from the hustle of modern life, and here it is, consequently, that the greatest share of local sports survive.

Though it must be, reluctantly, confessed that local sports are, on the whole, in a state of appreciable decline, the same agency [Photo. by Sport and General.

CUMBERLAND WRESTLING. which has killed many has been the means of raising others to a degree of favourable notoriety they would never otherwise have attained. Increased facilities for travelling have popularised meetings of once local interest only into important holiday attractions, drawing spectators from every part of the country. This is the case with regard to the two leading Lakeland festivals, the Grasmere and the Ullswater Sports, and, over the border, the highland gatherings at Braemar, Inverness, and Bridge of Allan.

Grasmere presents a typical instance. For close on sixty years the sports have been held, the leading features being the "guides' race," the hound trail, and the wrestling in the Cumberland style. In the earlier days this annual event was intended to keep alive these sports locally, and this it did, the spec- [LOCAL SPORTS tators being drawn most largely from the neighbourhood. But of late years the Grasmere Sports have become a fashionable and popular function attended by thousands of spectators from other districts. These, struck by the novelty, to them, or intrinsic merit of various items in the programme, have been so enamoured of them that they have established them in their own districts, and thus we have seen quite a boom in recent times in fell racing, hound trails, and Cumberland wrestling. In respect to the last named (described under the general head of wrestling), the controlling body of which is the Association Governing Cumberland and Westmorland Style of Wrestling, in 1910 wrestling academies were_established at Great Clifton, Workington, Ryton-on-Tyne, Middleton-in-Teesdale, Bolton-le-Sands, Milnthorpe, Newchurch, Newcastle-on-Tyne, and Chopwell, making in all about thirty academies under the Association. The meetings of the Associations are held alternately in Cumberland, Durham, Westmorland, Northumberland.

Yorkshire, and Lancashire. Four hundred meetings have registered or affiliated with the Association, amongst them, showing the wide range of the sport, Blackpool, Ullswater, Grasmere, Keighley, Carlisle, Clitheroe, Bridge of Allan, Morpeth, Aberdeen, Jedburgh, Aspatria, Hawick, and Alnwick. Like the jingling match and the backsword play, so graphically described in "Tom Brown's School Days," many of the old English sports-most of them, in fact -have gone beyond recall. In some cases it is best that they have, but there remain others, typical of the dogged pertinacity and the grit and gristle of the Britisher, that might to the glory of the nation be preserved from the extinction that threatens them.

Arrow Throwing. It is understood that the negroes have some reputation for stick throwing. Indeed, in the old days at Wimbledon a darkey was to be seen practising the art, propelling his stick into the air or at a mark for what reward might be bestowed upon him by the spectators. Also in quiet parts of London and in various provincial localities a wandering negro has at odd times been seen fingering the flying wand. Akin to this pastime is the sport of arrow throwing, popular among the industrial masses of the North of England, especially in the Bradford district, though the game attracts a great number of followers in Lancashire. To any one ignorant of the nature of the sport. arrow throwing" is something of a misnomer, for the shaft propelled is unfeathered and unshod; it is nothing more than a thin round wand LOCAL SPORTS] of deal or ash, pointed at one end. Deal is the material most in favour. This stick, about a yard long, is thrown, or slung, by hand with the aid of a piece of string, which is knotted at the end. The knot is laid against the shaft rather more than half-way up, the string is then passed round the shaft, over the knot, and brought down the shaft to its point. Of course, it is only by keeping the string taut that the player can retain it in position. To do this he wraps the surplus length round his hand, holding the arrow with his finger and thumb at its point. As he lets go the point in his throw, the string gets in its work, releases itself, and the arrow speeds away. Each competitor is allowed a certain number of throws, and the distance achieved with his longest throw wins, or loses, for him the stakes. As in knur and spell and billets, the ground is marked out in "scores," in this case each "score" being actually twenty yards. In this sport strength and stature count for little, many of the best arrow throwers being men under the average height. It might be supposed that a light, unwinged stick was incapable of propulsion to any great distance-and, indeed, in the hands of a novice it is but the average expert, playing down the wind, will throw his arrow ten or twelve score yards, and throws of as many as fourteen score yards are sometimes made. In South Yorkshire arrow throwing has declined considerably during the last decade. Here, formerly, feathered arrows were used in the manner above described, and throws of over 300 yards have been made.

Billets, or Billeting. - A compromise between knur and spell (described on a subsequent page) and the familiar boyish game of tip-cat, billeting, though by no means so popular as it once was, is still played in the North of England, the old home of the sport being the moorland borderland of Lancashire and Yorkshire skirting the manufacturing districts between Halifax and Todmorden. The billetingstick consists of a pliant shaft, to which is spliced the cylindrical head, nine or ten inches in length, and grooved with a longitudinal niche to hold the billet. Unlike the knur and spell pommel, the billeting-stick has no flattened striking surface.

The billet itself is also a wooden cylinder, preferably of box, though occasionally it may be fashioned from "hollin"-the wild holly -cut from an old tree in which age has toughened the timber. Also the billet may vary in size from two inches in length to six, and in weight from anything up to seven ounces. Three inches, however, is the size that finds most favour among the 66 66 players. A line is marked on the turf, and behind this the competitors stand, while the ground in front of the line is marked out in scores as in knur and spell, but with this difference, that in billeting each score" measures only ten yards. Toeing the mark, each competitor in turn holds out his stick with the billet reposing upon its head, the groove, or nick," keeping it from rolling off prematurely. The inexperienced player is wont to toss the billet in the air and attempt to strike it as it falls to a convenient level, but this method is detrimental to the chances of a long knock, for the billet thus served is prone to spin, and spin is fatal alike to distance and direction. old hand at the game gently tilts his billeting-stick until the billet rolls off, and then, as it is revolving slowly-not spinning endways in its fall, hits it smartly away. Ten 66 The ore" is a good distance to hit the billet at one stroke, but the crack billeter will sometimes accomplish twelve "score."

Bowling. During the nineteenth century there was popular in the rural districts of Ireland a game of the strenuous type known as bowling. The players, two, four, or six of whom competed, were armed with metal balls weighing four or five pounds each, which they hurled along the country roads, honours going to him who in the stipulated number of bowls covered the greatest distance. Injuries to cattle and other accidents were, however, of such frequent occurrence that in the 'sixties the sport was peremptorily stopped by an order from Dublin Castle, and if it is now practised at all it is surreptitiously on lonely ways of the secluded districts in the West, or on private ground. The writer remembers having seen, nearly forty years ago, a somewhat similar, but far less dangerous, game played on the rural roads in England by the native rustics, discs cut from large turnips taking the place of the metal balls.

Off the roads, bowling of a nature very similar to the once popular Irish game is still enthusiastically practised by the miners in the eastern portions of Durham and Northumberland, where suitable courses, such as seaside links, are available. The two principal grounds are the Newcastle Town Moor and the Blyth Links. Here crowds of miners assemble, some to play themselves, others to watch the matches arranged between various experts. Large stakes are bowled for, and a great deal of money changes hands through the medium of the ubiquitous bookmaker. The courses are usually about a mile long, and the bowls, spheres of stone or "potshare," vary in weight according to handicap. The bowls commonly employed are from 16 oz. to M 2 32 oz., but heavier weights are occasionally used. Each competitor in turn takes a sharp run to the mark, and hurls his bowl forward with an underhand delivery after the manner of the ancient athlete throwing the discus. The winner is the bowler who covers the entire length of the course in the least number of throws.

Caber, Tossing the. - Essentially a Scottish exercise and a feat necessitating the display of abnormal strength, tossing the caber is one of the most popular items in the athletic programmes at the Highland gatherings. The typical caber is the trunk of a larch tree, stripped of its branches, [Photo. by Sport and General.

TOSSING THE CABER. the top lopped off at a point where it measures about three inches in diameter.

Almost any beam of suitable dimensions may be made to serve, but the pole selected must taper pretty regularly, one end being much thicker and heavier than the other. The average caber is about twenty feet in length.

It is customary, however, to commence with the caber considerably longer than this-so long and heavy that none of the competitors can manipulate it. Then, in order to bring it to dimensions compatible with the powers of the contestants, pieces are consecutively sawn off the thick end until the most appropriate length is found. Now a brawny kilted Highlander steps forward to uphold the honour of his clan. The caber, which lies on the sward at his feet, is raised for him into an upright position, the smaller end upon the ground. Placing his shoulder against it to preserve its vertical position, he gingerly stoops, works his hands under the LOCAL SPORTS end, and carefully raises the pole until his hands are waist-high. Next comes a ticklish point in the feat; the performer initiates a forward movement, at the same time maintaining the more or less perpendicular poise of the caber; his tottering steps quicken into a run, and, summoning every quivering fibre to one stupendous effort-calves, thighs, loins, arms, and chest joining in one instantaneous demonstration of their utmost united prowess he makes his bid for victory. As he rises on his toes, with head thrown back and chest expanded, the caber leaves his upraised hands and flies through the air-upward-forward. If the toss be a good one, the caber steadily makes one turn "head over heels." It comes to earth thick end first, and its impetus carries the small end over until it lies pointing straight and true away from the tosser. The longest toss and the straightest fall proclaim the winner.

Cumberland Wrestling.- [See general article on WRESTLING.] Fell Racing.-Next to the wrestling competitions the most popular event at such leading Lakeland sports as the Grasmere (where it is called the "guides' race") and Ullswater meetings is the fell race, while at scores of less important athletic gatherings held in connection with the local village feasts throughout the dales of Cumberland, Westmorland, and North-West Yorkshire, it is the "star" event on the programme.

The conditions under which the fell race is run are simple. A prominent point on a near-by steep and rugged eminence, a mile to a mile and a half from the starting mark, is selected as the turning point and indicated by a flag. Round this flag the runner must go and return to the starting point, choosing whatever route he likes in coming and going. Obviously, fell racing, necessitating, as it does, the presence of a dizzying slope sweeping swiftly skyward from the near vicinity of the arena, must ever remain a local sport. In the course of the outward journey the ascent may be anything from five hundred to a thousand feet, and a threemiles course, out and home, will be run in something under twenty minutes. It is one of the most punishing races organised, and, though a few of the runners-generally old hands at the game, and in the pink of training-will breast the winning tape with unfaltering stride and head erect, the majority of the runners totter in in an obvious state of semi-collapse. The first prize varies in value from, say, a sovereign at some local village sports to £10 and a silver bowl at the Grasmere meeting-and the winner earns it.

LOCAL SPORTS] At the word "Go!" or the crack of the pistol, the competitors, a dozen or a score of them, are off in a bunch, over the walls of the lower pastures, stringing out into single file as they attack the steeper scarps that set the stoutest hearts a-thumping. Up they go, now at a sling trot along some narrow sheep-path, now scrambling on all fours up some rugged rocky staircase of the Titans; here threading through the mazy like the wind before it has the chance to do him harm. The pace is terrificsuperbly daring. It is on record that a fell racer at Grasmere cleared in his descent a chasm which upon measurement was found to be 22 ft. in width. Yet, sensationally reckless as the exhibition may appear, the danger is minimised by the runners' familiarity with the nature of the ground they traverse, and, miraculous as it may seem, FELL RACING: "GUIDES' RACE" AT GRASMERE. tangle of hazel scrub; there skirting the patch of small yielding scree over which good progress upward is impracticable; and yonder zig-zagging the boulder-strewn and rock-scarred brow that leads to the flag.

Far below in the valley the crowd of spectators watch breathlessly as the leaders round the turning point and commence the descent. And what a descent it is! Down the headlong steeps the runners hurl themselves. From crag to crag they skip like antelopes; they plunge and dive through slippery beds of bracken concealing a thousand pitfalls. No need now to dodge the yielding scree; over the treacherous waste of sharp, loose stones they bounce and bound with giant strides, each man the centre of a clattering avalanche of flying stones. Now a man is down, and rolls a dozen yards before he can pick himself up and get into his dare-devil stride once more; there another trips in an overlooked rabbitsnare set on a precipitous slope of short and slippery grass, and accomplishes the next thirty yards in a wild glissade on his back.

Topping a six-feet wall of loosely built limestone, the leader brings down a ton of rugged masonry at his heels, but he is away [Photo. by Sport and General. serious accidents in fell racing are unknown.

The time occupied in the descent is usually a little over a third of that taken for the ascent. The fell runner who at the present time has the greatest number of wins to his credit is E. H. Dalzell, of Keswick.

Gaelic Football. Although the Rugby game has a firm hold on the football-loving classes of Ireland, and the Association code is growing in favour with the artisan sportsman, Gaelic football is the game of the Irish Catholic masses-in many instances the Sunday game, when the surroundings of a popular match resemble those of a race meeting. The game itself differs very materially from the football seen on English and Scottish enclosures, and in some of its features bears a resemblance to hurling, the ground being of the same dimensions and the same number of players constituting a team. Scrimmaging is unknown; so is handling, except that a player may strike the ball, or may catch it with his hands, but in the latter case the ball must be struck away or kicked at once. Instead of, as in Rugby or Association, the players of each side playing behind the ball and moving, more or less, in a body as the ball travels, the Gaelic football teams range themselves the whole length of the ground, maintaining defined positions as do the fielders at cricket, and only play the ball as it comes into their vicinity. The ball, which is a round one, is thrown up in the centre of the ground at the start by the referee; whenever it crosses the side lines it is thrown into play again in any direction by a man on the side opposite to that of the man who kicked it over; and when a goal or a point has been scored, it is kicked into play from a seven-yards square in front of the goal by the goalkeeper. Infringements of the rules are penalised by the award of free kicks to the other side.

Guides' Race.- [See FELL RACING.] Handball. The Irish form of the game usually known as fives, handball was formerly one of the most favoured recreations in the Sister Isle, where all the principal [LOCAL SPORTS Tyrone in October, 1879, and he doubts very much if any other contest of importance has been held in Ireland since. a Hop, Skip, and Jump.-Called also hop, step, and jump, and, in the vernacular of the North of England, "'op, stride, an' loup," the hop, skip, and jump is an athletic effort confined in regular practice to Ireland, Scotland, and the North of England, where it is one of the usual features of village sports. The performance consists of series of three springs made from a running start. Supposing that the competitor leaves the mark off his right foot, he alights at the end of the first spring on his right foot. This constitutes the hop. Then, without touching the ground with his left foot, he makes a second spring, alighting on his left foot. That is the skip or step, after which, without touching ground with his right foot, he makes his third spring, A B [Photo. by W. Carter Platts.

COURSE FOR THE FELL RACE AT THE UPPER WHARFEDALE SHOW. A is the field from which the start is made; B, the flag at the turning-point; C, beds of scree, which are carefully avoided in the ascent, but traversed headlong in the descent. towns had their "courts" or "alleys," which were in constant demand. To-day the game is all but extinct, save, perhaps, in the case of a few schools where highstanding walls still remain, and where it is played in a perfunctory manner by the boys.

The last handball match of which the writer has any cognisance was played in County alighting on both feet. That is the jump.

With these three, the whole of which are, without pause, accomplished with the impetus of the run, first-rate performers will cover 45 ft. and upwards, the record-an Irish one created by D. Shanahan-standing at 50 ft. of in. In certain parts of Yorkshire a variety of the hop, step, and jump LOCAL SPORTS] is practised, in which some of the springs are made with the legs crossed, a condition which, when attempted by the novice, may be safely depended upon to brighten with joyous hilarity an otherwise tedious spectacle.

Hound Trails. - The sport of hound trailing, widely popular throughout Cumthey start upon their task, the most careful attention is given to their diet. One veteran's practice was to nurture his dogs for some time previous to a big event on eggs, boiled and raw, pounded up with bread baked with eggs but minus yeast and salt, liberally sprinkled with sugar-candy and dried fruits, and enriched with good THE HOUND TRAIL, GRASMERE SPORTS: THE START. berland, Westmorland, Lancashire, and the West of Yorkshire, may be seen at its best at the Grasmere and the Ullswater Sports and at Ingleton on the occasion of the annual sheep-dog trials. At these meetings foxhounds are employed and mountainous courses selected over the adjoining fells, which enable the spectator with a decent pair of field glasses to see a large share of the game. The dogs are specially trained to the sport, and are taken from meeting to meeting. Elsewhere, on the outskirts of the Lancashire and Yorkshire industrial districts, hound trails, often promoted by the proprietors of various public-houses, are run by dogs in whose veins the blue blood of canine aristocracy does not run pure and undefiled, and in such instances the trail is frequently a circular one, laid from the particular hostel interested, out and home again; or it is laid from one public-house to another.

At the meetings specified, however, as well as at scores of others brought off in the fell country, hound trailing is a sport followed for itself, and is free from the taint of pot-house speculation. That the hounds may be in the best condition when [Photo. by Sport and General. sherry. This, with roast leg of mutton, practically constituted the hound's diet while in training. Anyhow, the hounds, when brought on the ground, face the starter as fit as the proverbial fiddle. دو Away goes the man with the aniseed rag, trailing his odoriferous appendage over eight or nine miles of rugged hillside-up among the "winding scars and scrambles of rocky scree, over the rough piled-up walls of mountain limestone that border the higher pastures, adown the tangled gorge and across the foaming burn, until he completes the circuit. Then the hounds, straining at their leashes, are loosed, and away they stream on the track of the familiar scent that never leads to a kill.

Keenly followed by the gaze of the spectators below, they keep the line without a falter, flying the obstacles, and resistingand occasionally succumbing to the temptations of a refreshing gulp or two at the cooling streams they encounter while heated in the chase. Sometimes the pack is strung out; sometimes it could be covered with the table-cloth of the hunting man's parlance.

It is a glorious sight-this never-slackening burst in the hunt after nothing, and very often it is impossible to pick the winner until the leading dogs have topped the last fence and raced over the winning line, while the crowd cheer lustily and the band breaks out in a violent eruption of "D'ye ken John Peel?" In 1910 the ten-miles course at the Grasmere Sports was covered in 35 min.

IO sec., and the nine-miles course at the Ullswater Sports in 29 min. 54 1/5 sec.

Hurling. The national game of Ireland is undoubtedly hurling, although, like many another old and honoured national institution, it is fast falling into a state of senile decay. Yet it has lived to a ripe old age, for the classic delvers in ancient Gaelic lore trace the game back to the "year of the world 3,370," and proclaim it to have been a royal diversion before the legions of old Rome set foot on British soil. As a stake is now supposed to add interest to a sporting contest, so, it is said, in the early days of Gaelic hurling, zest was occasionally imparted to the game by the fact that the players were literally playing for their lives, the losers being promptly despatched for their lack of success. Great games in Irish history also loom large in the early records of hurling-Cahir Mor, Cormac MacArt, Finn MacCool, Roderick O'Connor, the last High King of Ireland in the twelfth century. Later other local royalties kept the hurley ball rolling, and certain fairs did much to hand it down to modern times. Of late years, however, football has to an overwhelming extent superseded the ancient game, and it is now rarely seen in Ireland, except in Tipperary and Limerick, with, possibly, one district in Wexford. Its survival in these districts is due in a great measure to local respect for the memory of "the 1798 men" the year of the rebellion for it was the "1798 hurlers" who held Limerick and Wexford in the early stages of the struggle. دو Hurling bears a strong resemblance in general to hockey, being played on a field about 150 yards in length by 84 yards in width. The goals, facing each other as in hockey or football, are marked by posts 21 ft. apart, carrying a cross-bar 8 ft. from the ground, the object of each side being, of course, to drive the ball through their opponents' goal. Besides goals, "points are scored. On each side of the goal, and on the goal line, is a point post, which must not be less than 16 ft. in height, and when the ball is driven between these point posts -including its passage over, instead of under, the cross-bar of the goal-a "point" is scored. Each player is provided with a hurley, a club approximating in form and purpose the hockey stick, and the remaining LOCAL SPORTS essential implement is the ball, known as the "slitter," of leather-covered cork wrapped with yarn, which is about 5 in. in diameter, and 7 oz. in weight. It is usual for seventeen players to form a team, though the number may be varied by agreement.

A spin of a coin decides which team has the choice of goals, after which the opposing players face each other across the field of play along the middle line. The referee throws the ball into play between the two lines of players, and the game commences.

Now the ball crosses the side line (corresponding to the touch line in football), and the sidesman, who plays a part somewhat similar to that of the touch-line judge in Rugby football, tosses it back into play.

Here a player gets in a mighty stroke by meeting the ball in air with his hurley; there another catches it fairly and squarely on the hop; yonder a third raises it from the ground with a smart pat, and, swinging his hurley, hits it as it reaches a convenient height, and sends it flying far towards the goal. It is not permissible to lift the ball from the ground with the hand, but one may catch it in the air provided he instantly plays it with his hurley. Likewise in scrimmages, when hurleys are interlocked, the foot may be used to move the ball. After a goal or point has been scored, the goalkeeper returns the ball into play, in doing which he may handle it. Breaches of the rules are penalised at the discretion of the referee, who may give the side opposing the offender "free puck," or stroke. This is utilised either by striking the ball from the ground or by raising it with the hurley into the air and hitting it as it descends. The game is a fast one, and when the play is of an open character is by no means an uninteresting one from the spectator's point of view. a In quite a different form, hurling survives in a few parishes in the Duchy of Cornwall. The following account of this style of the game is contributed by Mr.

L. C. R. Cameron: Formerly it was the national game of the Cornish race, being ranked by the historian Polwhele with hunting, hawking, cock-fighting, wrestling as one of the principal recreations of the people of his days. Its antiquity is shown by the name bestowed on and certain groups of stones in East Cornwall of the same period as Stonehenge, now denominated The Hurlers, and by the fact that the mottoes engraved upon the silver balls used in the game-which are o-day replicas of those preserved in various country houses are invariably in the Cornish language, the favourite motto, per- LOCAL SPORTS] haps, being Guare wheg yw guare teg, or "Fair play is good play."

The game was formerly played on the parish feast day, the anniversary of the saint to whom the church was dedicated, and this custom is still observed at St. Ives, where the annual hurling match between those who live in the town and those who live in the country parts of the parish is held on the fifth Monday after Christmas, and at St. Columb Major, where Shrove Tuesday is hurling day. At Newquay and other summer resorts matches are arranged each year during the seaside season between residents and visitors, in which, though the goals may not be so many miles apart as in the original game, all the other rules are strictly observed.

At one time the squire of one parish frequently led its inhabitants against the squire of an adjoining parish, the goals being the respective residences of these gentlemen. At other times the church steeple or some equally prominent landmark was the goal, as is the case at the present day.

The game differs from other games played with a ball to goals in that victory rests with the side that conveys the ball to its own goal, in place of forcing it through that of its opponents.

The sides may consist of any number of men and lads-it is much too arduous a game for the participation of boys and women-provided they belong to the parishes contending. At the hour fixed for the match-usually at midday-the ball (which is a sphere of pear wood thickly coated with silver, on which armorial bearings and Cornish mottoes are engraved, and a little less in size than a cricket ball) is thrown into the air. A scrimmage or struggle then ensues for its capture.

Directly a player succeeds in securing the ball he makes his way out of the crowd either by force or strategy, and, once clear of the press, sets off running in the direction of his own goal, which may be two or three or even five or six miles away.

The object of the inhabitants of the opposing parish is to overtake or waylay the runner, re-capture the ball, and convey it with all speed in the reverse direction. The principal rules are: (1) That the holder of the ball for the time being may not conceal it, but must carry it so that at least a third of the shining silver surface is visible; (2) that on being overtaken and thrown to the ground he must not retain the ball, but is bound to hurl it as far forward in the direction of his own goal as he can; (3) that no striking or "butting" is permissible THE TATE LIBRARY, BRIXTON, S.W. between the players. Outside these, and the rule that only the inhabitants of a given parish may play for that parish, a wide scope and latitude is allowed to the players.

The man with the ball may go in any direction and for as many miles as he cares to run, fetching his goal eventually by a wide circuit, and using every topographical advantage, such as hedges, ditches, hills, valleys, covert, gorse, streams, and so forth, to facilitate his object. On the other hand, his opponents may equally scour the country in all directions, posting look-outs and scouts to signal his whereabouts by the cries "Ware East!" or "Ware West!" as the case may be. Formerly, mounted players fulfilled this function, and even caught the hurled ball and rode on with it towards the goal; but in a deep bank and hedge country like Cornwall they were nearly always cut off at a gate, lane, or bridge by the foot players, flung by the leg from their horses, and compelled to hurl or relinquish the ball.

The most skilful player is he who, seeing the ball hurled, can run forward, catch it, and, by knowledge of the country, by speed, wind, and agility, get away with it towards his goal, and who, when overtakan or intercepted, possesses the skill and judgment to hurl it forward so that it may be caught and carried on by one of his own side. The ball once brought to the goal, the match is ended, and the silver sphere remains the property of the winners. Formerly it was presented to the squire whose house was the goal, and paid for by him in unlimited ale for all the players. Hurling comes nearest of all games to being a field sport, with a human quarry constantly changing, who can, however, by merely hurling the ball forward, cease to be "hunted" and become "hunter " whenever he so chooses. In 1664 a body of one hundred Cornish gentlemen is recorded to have given an exhibition match before Oliver Cromwell in Hyde Park, playing fifty a-side; but the game evidently did not "catch on "with Londoners.

Another form of hurling was current in the eastern part of Cornwall, which seems to have been a sort of precursor of Rugby football, since it was played by fifteen a-side, and to goals consisting of two pairs of bushes pitched two hundred yards apart, with guards (or goalkeepers), through which a player of the opposing side endeavoured to run with the ball. Wrestling and butting, or the thrusting of an adversary in the chest with the closed fist by the man bearing the ball, were allowed, though "butting and "handfasting beneath the girdle" were forbidden those who were hurlers against the ball." There was دو also a forerunner of the modern "off-side" rule in the law forbidding "fore-balling" that is, the throwing of the ball, by the hurler who had been "handfasted," to one of his side who was nearer to the adversaries' goal than he was. "The least breach of these laws," says Carew quaintly, "the hurlers take for a just cause of going together by the ears, but with their fists only," adding, "these hurling matches are mostly used at weddings." East Cornish hurling or "hurling to two goals," as it was called, is quite extinct, its place having been taken by Rugby football, and Cornish hurling to-day, is the sport formerly distinguished as hurling to the country" as described above. In the parishes where it is still played it attracts large crowds of spectators, 66 [LOCAL SPORTS and shape, while an ancient barn-door, invalided out of active service, can usually be found whereon to pin the fair white target. The coveted prize takes the form of a copper kettle-hence the popular designation of the competition-provided out of the entrance fees of, perhaps, sixpence each. Should funds prove abundant, a tea-pot may be added as a second prize.

Almost everybody in the hamlet enters for the shoot-young or old, gaffer or gammer, halt or blind-for, the law insisting that nobody shall actually fire at the target without possessing a gun licence, much of the shooting is done by deputy, marksmen of repute firing a dozen times as the representatives of a dozen different entrants. On the village green or in some convenient field, A NORTH-COUNTRY KETTLE SHOOT. hurling days being practically observed as public holidays.

Kettle Shoot, The. - One of the chief features of many village feast sports held in the remote dales that furrow the great Pennine moors and uplands, the Kettle Shoot, is, in all probability, a modernised survival of the ancient sport of "Shooting at the Popinjay," graphically described in Scott's "Old Mortality." At first with bows and arrows, and later with single-ball carbines, the marksmen of their day tried their skill in friendly rivalry by shooting at a gaily feathered stuffed parrot, or "popinjay," suspended from a pole. Today the popinjay is unknown in the dale hamlets, and the carbine has long rusted itself out of local existence. However, there are few moorland farmers who do not possess, and know how to use, a doublebarrelled "twelve-bore," and as for a mark -well, the local universal provider at the village shop will for a few pence supply a bundle of white envelopes of uniform size [Photo. by W. Carter Platts. and backed by a speculative and appreciative "gallery," the shooters quickly follow one another at the firing line, and discharge their pieces loaded for them by the officials of the sports, at the envelope pinned upon the old door which has been reared against a wall. After each shot the appointed marker hurries to the target, takes down the envelope, counts the pellet marks in it, and replaces it with a new one, while the scorer jots down the figures. The fact that the previous highest score is known adds a zest to the interest as each shooter takes aim, pretty much as, under the discarded system, the declaration of the "state of the poll" kept the electioneering enthusiasm at fever heat in the old days. Eventually the marksman m who has put most pellet marks into the envelope is declared the winner of the kettle.

Knur and Spell. - Known in the vernacular as "knur-laiking," knur and spell, though practically a mystery to the southcountryman, and little more than a name to LOCAL SPORTS] the well-to-do sportsman of the north, holds steady sway over the humble sporting masses of the crowded districts of the West Riding of Yorkshire and the adjoining Lancashire hives of industry. Especially is it popular as a Saturday or holiday sport in the South Yorkshire coalfields, where-not without reason I have heard it dubbed "colliers' golf." Formerly the winner in a knur and spell match was the competitor who could strike his knur the greatest aggregate distance in a certain number of attempts or "rises." Matches of this description are still common, the aggregate system of scoring being the one usually adopted when the players are of markedly different calibre and handicapping is necessary. But the style of knur and spell which now commands the greatest favour is the "long knock" contest, which is heralded in the local Press by some such announcement as: To-day, at Grounds, A. B, of C——, will play D. E, of F, at Long Knock for £40 a side, 20 rises with oz. pot knurs."

L 66 و Let the reader imagine a huge, rough, common-like enclosure, at one end of which the assistants of the respective players are setting the spells. It is a delicate operation, critically watched by a crowd of connoisseurs. Spades quickly level a patch of ground, and the spring spell-somewhat reminiscent of a rat-trap without the jaws -is firmly spiked down into position with due regard to the attached spirit-level.

Next, the spring of the spell, at the end of which is a small brass cup to hold the knur, is adjusted by thumbscrews, so that when released by a touch of the pommel on the trigger, it will toss the knur a distance of six feet forward. Now an endless string, measured with strict accuracy to the length of the player's stroke and other important factors, is placed round the spot where the knur falls and the spell. The slack of the string is then pulled out at right angles to the spell, and a peg is driven into the ground at the spot thus found. Against this peg the player places his right toe, and if all the adjustments have been correctly effected, then, when he touches the trigger and swings his pommel, the latter will come into contact with the knur exactly at the desired point in its airy flight. In days gone by, wooden knurs were in common use, small spheres of boxwood. They are still occasionally employed, but the general practice to-day is to play with porcelain knurs-" potties"-the regulation weight being half an ounce, and their size about an inch in diameter. The pommel is similar in shape to, but considerably less in size than, a half-pint beer bottle, flattened on the striking surface, and a favourite pommel is treasured by its owner as the billiard enthusiast treasures his pet cue. To resist the terrific impact with a small, hard body like a pot knur, the pommel has to be carefully prepared, and it is made of beech, faced with pressed maple, the whole head, though so small, weighing between four and five ounces. This is spliced to a tapered pliant ash shaft, the total length of the striking apparatus for a man possessing an ordinary reach being about four feet four inches.

Stripped to his shirt and trousers, the [Photo. by W. Carter Platts.

AT A KNUR AND SPELL MATCH: THE STRIKER IS IN THE ACT OF TOUCHING THE TRIGGER. striker toes his peg, and, with his pommel, measures his distance from the spell upon which his "pottie" reposes. He gives a preliminary waggle as though to reassure himself of the exact amount of resilience in the shaft. He indulges in a false rise or two to test the correctness of the regulated throw of the spring. The spectators crowd round barely out of reach of the swing of the pommel, and gaze admiringly. They critically watch him spit on his hands and brace himself for his effort. They lean forward and glue their eyes on the cupped knur. ness.

It is a moment of electric intense- The pommel tips the catch of the spell, the knur is tossed up, and the pommel swings through the air with a mighty swish, smiting the "pottie" with a smart thwack!

The next instant the crowd, with one accord, are pointing and gazing heavenwards; the striker, wildly brandishing his pommel, is prancing down the field after the flying knur, fervently urging it to "Get forrard! get forrard!" and away in the distance a numerous body of scouts watch for the fall of the knur. The stroke has let loose a babel of tongues. Backers of the striker, allowing the wish to be father to the thought, yell out their firm conviction that the knock is "Ovver ten score! ovver ten score!" while the supporters of his rivals deride such liberal estimates with sarcastic allusions to firing marbles as far. Eventually the knur drops, the best and the worst [Photo. by W. Carter Platts.

ROUND-THE-TOWN RACE: THE START. are known for the ground is marked out into "scores" (of yards) to facilitate measurement and the striker resumes his coat until his turn comes round once more.

The question "What is the longest 'long knock' that has ever been made?" will probably ere now have suggested itself to the reader. In the contests referred to, it is quite a common occurrence for the players to drive their knurs eight, nine, and ten score yards, while knocks of eleven score and twelve score are less often reported. These distances, however, do not nearly approach the record, which, for pot knurs, stands at fifteen score yards and fourteen feet. This distance was accomplished by Joe Machin, of Grinnerside, on the Queen's Grounds, Barnsley, in 1899.

Even a greater distance than this has been struck with a wooden knur, the record for which is eighteen score yards, thirty-seven [LOCAL SPORTS feet, and eight inches, made on the Gun Club Grounds, Lightcliffe, near Halifax, in the same year. These distances appear almost incredible, but it must be borne in mind that it is the practice of the "knurlaikers" to play with the wind, and a snoring gale may add very materially to the length of the knock.

Lancashire Wrestling.- [See general article on WRESTLING.] a few Round-the-Town Race. At village sports in rural regions where the police regard with an indulgent eye the transformation of the public highway into a temporary race track, the round-the-town race evokes enthusiastic interest, and provides, for any city-dweller who may chance to witness it, a quaint spectacle.

The course is laid through the streets of the hamlet, making roughly a circuit of the "town," and may be anything from half a mile to a mile in length. A shorter course is mapped out for the women's and boys' round-the-town races, for the ladies are nothing loth to show the lightness of their heels as they flash with a whirl of skirts and twinkling ankles past the cottage doors.

Running for the Ribbons. Practically extinct, though some half-hearted attempts to revive it have been made, running for the ribbons was, a generation or two ago, the great athletic adjunct to a village wedding in the Yorkshire dales. Almost immediately after the ceremony was over in the sacred building, the young men of the neighbourhood lined up at the church gates, stripped to their shirts and trousers, and at the word "Go!" dashed off. The goal was the new home of the happy couple, and here the blushing bride pinned a bunch of gaily coloured ribbons to the hat of the winner, who strutted about the village for the rest of the day, crowned with laurelsor, at any rate, ribbons-the hero of the hour.

Sheep-dog Trials. - Twenty years ago sheep-dog trials were almost unknown, save locally among the Welsh and North of England uplands, the nurseries of the sport. Of late the southern and eastern counties, the Midlands, and the West of England, have given more or less enthusiastic welcome to the diversion, while over the border Scottish clubs and societies have been formed for its promotion. With the fashionable gathering at Tring and the important meeting at Llangollen in the first week of August, the season gets into full swing, and during the next three months sheep-dog trials are now run almost daily in various parts of the country before great concourses of spectators, some of the best- LOCAL SPORTS] known competitors travelling from meeting to meeting with their specially trained dogs.

The object of the competitor is to "work" his dog by signals, so that the intelligent brute drives the sheep allotted to him over a prescribed course of, perhaps, six or eight hundred yards in length, plentifully strewn with obstacles which must be negotiated in a stipulated manner, and finally pens the sheep in a tiny enclosure within a given time. At the big meetings valuable prizes are offered, the entrants which they must be driven; yonder the cross-passages, known to the elect as the "Maltese cross," through whose intricacies the sheep must be piloted, first straight ahead, and afterwards transversely; and, lastly, the three hurdles, set in a triangle to form a pen with a narrow opening, in which they must be finally secured within the time allowed for the whole round. For the passage of the Maltese cross, and, again, for the final penning, the shepherd may leave his post in the centre of the ground, and assist his dog in any way short of SHEEP-DOG TRIALS: PENNING THE SHEEP. often number forty or fifty, and the highest honours go to the competitor making the most points. Three sheep are allotted to each dog, and to add to the sporting chance two sheep are frequently taken from one flock, while the third is taken from another; for, though sheep from the same flock almost invariably run together, sheep from different flocks possess a strong disposition to keep aloof from each other, and the dog's task in keeping the trio together is rendered more difficult. The three sheep are turned loose at one end of the vast arena, and at a signal from the shepherd, whose movements are restricted to a short rope's length of a post in the centre of the course, the alert cur bounds away, "gathers" the wondering trio, and duly proceeds to marshal them round the course, successively putting them through the various obstacles. Here are the flag-poles, round and between which the woolly charges must be gently urged; there the gaps between hurdles, through [Photo. by W. Carter Platts. actually touching the sheep. Even then the task is an exasperating one, for in the Maltese cross the characteristic perversity of sheep will seldom permit them to come out by the right exit when they go in by the right entrance, and it prompts them to leave by the correct exit only when they have gone in by the illegitimate entrance, while the animals' powers of irritation lead them rambling a dozen times round the pen -a thousand spectators hanging breathlessly on the issue and the time-keeper checking off the precious seconds without once perceiving that there is an entrance to it-an entrance which they immediately discover and cheerfully utilise the moment after the stipulated time for penning is exceeded.

The double-dog stake is now a popular feature of many of the meetings. In this event three sheep are released at one end of the field, while three others are turned out at the opposite end of the enclosure.

Then the shepherd, from his central post, works a pair of dogs simultaneously, each animal bringing his respective trio of sheep through certain obstacles to the middle of the field, where the two little flocks join, and are then put through the rest of the course by the dogs working together, until, all other obstacles having been overcome, the six sheep are separated into the original trios-each dog taking his own lot-and penned in separate pens.

By the exercise of monumental patience, the dogs are trained to act with the precision of automata, instantly obeying any of eight or nine signals given by whistling, gesture, or voice. The natural exuberance of the collie must be held under severe restraint, and all his actions be governed by the signal of command. At this whistle or that wave of the stick the dog must advance, retire, stop, move quicker, move slower, sheer off to the left, come in to the right-in short, go through almost all the movements in a set of quadrilles to the tune his master calls.

We often hear the complaint that the local agricultural show, pure and simple, will not pay its way, and that the addition of some sporting form of spectacular diversion is absolutely necessary to draw the crowd. Here sheep-dog trials have done much of late years to save many an old and honoured north-country agricultural society from total extinction. Indeed, at some of the shows the casual observer may be excused for wondering whether the sheep-dog trials form one of the secondary attractions of the agricultural show, or the agricultural exhibition is merely one of the side shows of the sheep-dog trials.

Wallops. Only in certain secluded valleys in North-West Yorkshire, very far indeed from the madding crowd, has the writer come across a variation of the game of skittles, or nine-pins, known by the curious name of wallops. Where it is played it is extremely popular. With rudely fashioned tackle the rustic juveniles play it on the roads when school is over, when the children of a more conventional outer world are playing marbles or whiptop, while at the local sports meetings competitions are held for adult players, and considerable dexterity is displayed. It is usual to include events for lady players.

The walloping-stick is of tough wood, some four feet in length and about an inch in thickness; and the skittles, nine in number, measure about nine inches in height. These pins are set up in the form of a square of such dimensions that, with an exceptionally good throw, it is possible to bring them all [LYNX down with one stroke of the missile. The player stands at a mark ten or a dozen yards from the skittles, and hurls his walloping-stick at them with a swing, the object being to sweep the square with the broadside of the flying stick. This is very difficult of accomplishment, the stick, apparently flying straight for the pins, is guided by the Imp of the Perverse into miraculously swinging harmlessly by the majority of them or bounding over them.

Each player is allowed two throws, but the pins he knocks down at his first attempt are not set up again until he has made his second effort, and the winner is, of course, he who overturns the greatest number of skittles.

W. CARTER PLATTS. as LYNX. Though the lynx affords handsome a trophy as sportsmen need desire, yet it cannot be regarded as a regular beast of chase. That is, the lynx is never CANADIAN LYNX. made a separate object of pursuit, but rather forms a subsidiary object, ever welcome, while hunting other game. His strictly nocturnal habits-truly feline-his relative scarcity, and the wild character of his haunts, leave the chance of a shot altogether too precarious were lynx alone the hunter's sole objective.

In Europe are found two species: the larger northern lynx (Felis lynx), ranging throughout Scandinavia, Russia, and the north-continental countries; and the small spotted lynx (F. pardina), confined to the warmer w latitudes by the Mediterranean, and is especially common in Spain.

Of the Northern Lynx few are ever shot by British sportsmen. In my own experience of several seasons spent in the northern forests, I have never chanced LYNX] to see, much less shoot, a lynx, though on several occasions I came across recent spoor. Similar luck, I believe, befalls most Anglo-Norsk hunters, and the few lynxes (Goup, in Norwegian) that are killed in that country are mostly secured in winter, when they can be followed on ski, or snow-runners. The total killed, on which the Government reward of twenty kroner was paid, was returned in the three years 1893, 1894, and 1895 at fifty-six, forty-four, and eighty respectively.

The northern lynx is a scarce beast, nowhere localised, whose home is in the wildest mountain-forest, where his stronghold is among the crevices of some bare rock-scaur that projects above the trees.

There the beast, curled up among shaggy heather or dwarf-birch, passes the day on an open ledge which overlooks the woods and commands a view of approaching prey, or danger. The wolf, on the other hand, sleeps away the daylight hours in some dark den or hollowed cleugh far above timber line.

A favourable opportunity to shoot the northern lynx (and the bear also) occurs in early spring, when the goats and sheep are first driven out to the fjeld-tempting morsels to the hungry beasts of prey. Should the hunter have early notice of a "kill," a shot may be obtained at night.

The Southern or Small-Spotted Lynx is a beast of the scrub and jungle rather than of forest. In southern Europe wide areas of rolling plain and the foot-hills of mountain-ranges are clad with shoulderhigh heaths, cistus, rosemary, and other shrubs. Amidst these, in the hollows, where winter rains collect and moisture lingers, are denser growths of jungle, often twenty feet high, and all interlaced with twining thorny briar. These matted thickets, impenetrable to man, form the rendezvous of various wild animals. They are the favourite home of the lynx; but they also shelter the wild boar and red deer, besides minor beasts-wild cat, fox, badger, mungoose, and others.

In shooting a country such as this, the primary objects are, naturally, pig and deer : but as the lynx alone concerns us here, I will endeavour to show how he may best be killed. While "driving" such countries (and that is the only way in which they can be shot), it may be laid down as an axiom that the first animals to appear will be foxes and lynxes. When the beat is joined, and the distant shouts of the beaters come borne on the breeze, the different wild creatures enclosed within the circle are all aroused to the danger; but each has his own idea of escape. Deer, if lying in the open, move hither and thither, seeking a weak spot to break back; the pig never stirs till hustled by the dogs; but the lynx shifts at once and direct. Hence, during the first few minutes of the beat (more or less, depending on its extent), the concealed gunner will be well advised to load with shot (No. 2, or up to AAA if commanding an open space), and to face into the beat. At the end of those minutes, he may be assured that no SPOTTED LYNX.

Valdwell 1897 lynx is coming his way, and shot should then be exchanged for ball. Five lynxes will be secured with the shot-gun in front of the line for one that is killed with the rifle behind.

While expecting lynx, the gunner must be thoroughly concealed behind a breastwork of bushes and remain rigid as death. He sees the partridge whirring afar before the advancing beaters, and scurrying rabbits dart across the open. To these he pays no attention. But he should note a concourse of chattering magpies on his left front, and presently, from that direction, a grey form, moving silently between grey stems of cistus, catches his eye. Forty yardsthirty; now he sees the big cat's orbs glancing to right and left; but the head, carried low, never moves till the gun is raised. Then, for a fraction of a second, both pairs of eyes meet and the lynx is dead before he knows how he died. On one occasion the writer allowed a lynx to advance to exactly eleven yards.

Silent as it is, the approach of a lynx is sometimes audible to an attentive ear, and in wet seasons I have heard them splashing through water with almost as much noise as a dog. Their movements are slow, and, like most wild beasts, the lynx is reluctant to face the open; a big male will rather turn and give battle to three or four dogs than run into danger. Occasionally [LYNX I have known them to stated) lynx are less forest. "tree"; but (as often found in the wing as the covey sweeps low over stated) lynx are less often found in some open patch or rushy glade. Despite the carnivorous habits of the lynx, the flesh From a drawing by E. G. Caldwell.

LYNX They prey chiefly on rabbits and partridges. The latter, our Spanish gamekeepers assure us, the lynx can catch on is white and well-flavoured, if one can so far overcome prejudice as to give it a trial.

ABEL CHAPMAN.

LYNX] LYNX-SHOOTING IN RUSSIA. To ring a lynx, to set the beaters in their places, and successfully to drive the creature to his doom, which would be a charge of slugs THIBET LYNX. if he came to it, is usually more than the intelligence and skill of the ordinary keeper can bring about. Indeed, to obtain a successful result it is necessary not only that the keeper, but also every beater engaged, and every sportsman should be on the alert.

For, to begin with, the lynx must be noiselessly ringed and the beaters silently set in place. Now, no lynx, awake and worthy of the name, could be ringed as though he were a mere dull-eared wolf, or a bear fast asleep in his winter lair-without knowing all about it; and even if ringed, the ceremony of placing the beaters could not be performed without awakening his suspicions. Hence, as a rule, he is off and away before the beaters and guns are placed.

Should he, however, have been asleep or busy with his dinner, the odds are still in his favour, for each beater must be alert, and must stand close to his neighbour, or the cat-like creature will slink or spring past him unseen, and the beat will end in wonder and abuse, and without a lynx-skin.

So quick and so cunning is the ringed lynx that he will successfully creep within a yard of the sportsman standing, gun-in-hand, on the look-out for him, and, watching his opportunity, spring past him and away, unsuspected until an inspection of his tracks reveals the fact that he is gone. 66 But there is one individual who vies with the lynx for cunning, and that is the lugatch." The lugatchi, the original ones, were a company of three hunters hailing, presumably, from Luga, though their origin, like their method, is mysterious. These three men are, or were, able for their suc- VOL III دو cessors and imitators fall far short of their skill-without assistance of beaters, to ring and drive any animal, even a lynx, to any spot they pleased. Let the "gun stand where he would, the wolf, fox, lynx, or any other animal ringed would presently arrive by their mysterious insistence, at his very ambush. Their beating, or driving, was done almost in silence, the central huntsman entering the ring on the animal's track and directing the others by signals when and how loudly to clap hands or cough or bark, according to the course taken by the quarry and its divergence from the required direction.

A possible but difficult method of hunting lynx is to run him down upon snowshoes with the aid of a dog. When the lynx comes in sight the dog barks, and instantly the lynx is at the top of a tree, from which sanctuary, foolishly sought in a moment of panic, a bullet will soon dislodge him.

FRED WHISHAW.

LYNX, AFRICAN, or Caracal (Felis caracal). This animal, well known all over South Africa by its Dutch name, Rooi-Kat (red-cat), is to be found in many parts of the African continent, from the Cape Colony northward. Men of science place the caracal between the jungle-cat and the AFRICAN LYNX OR CARACAL. northern lynxes, but to the average observer this animal, although not spotted all over, is, with its tufted ears, short tail, and other characteristics, a true member of the lynx family. In colour the rooi-kat is of a warm reddish-brown, the underparts paler, faintly spotted with rufous markings; it stands from 15 to 18 inches in height, and is strong, savage, and wonderfully active.

It does considerable damage among sheep and goats, especially in the lambing and N kidding seasons, and is therefore, as far as possible, exterminated by South African farmers. The caracal is, however, extremely wary and suspicious, and not easily trapped or hunted. Essentially a nocturnal beast, it is only occasionally encountered by the gunner in daylight; a bullet, or, at close quarters, a charge of large shot will be found equally efficacious on such an occasion. A wounded caracal can, however, use its teeth and claws with great effect, and should be approached with caution. The Bechuanas hunt these animals systematically with dogs, and also snare them. The very handsome skins, warm, soft, and furry, are in great request among these people, by whom they are neatly sewn together and made into valuable karosses or rugs. A good rooi-kat kaross, containing 16 skins, is worth £5 5s. and upwards at any Bechuanaland store. There is a widely prevalent idea in South Africa that the skins of this animal are, if used as a blanket, a great prophylactic against rheumatism. It is undoubted that the fur has a marked attraction for electricity, and at certain seasons a kaross, when stroked with the hand, will emit sheets of sparks and the wellknown crackling accompaniment. As a rule, the African lynx seems to prefer a dry habitat to a moist one. In South Africa the parched and elevated plateaux of Bechuanaland and the Kalahari probably contain more of these animals than any other locality. The caracal is found in North Africa, as also in Arabia, Persia, and parts of India.

H. A. BRYDEN. • MACKEREL. -MEASUREMENTS, &C. - Length of head 44 to 47, of caudal fin 64, of pectoral fin 91, height of body 54 to 64, in the total length. Eyewith broad, adipose lids. Teeth-in a single row of rather sharp ones in the jaws, in a deciduous patch on either side of the vomer, and in a single or double row on the palatines; a central row of teeth at the base of the tongue. Fins-dorsal commences at the beginning of the second third of the length of the body; spines weak, the second and third the longest, from thence they decrease to the last. Second dorsal low, and similar to the anal. Pectoral not quite half as long as the head; ventral one-fourth shorter than the pectoral.

A single, short, pre-anal spine between the vent and the commencement of the anal fin.

Caudal deeply forked. Scales-minute, about twenty-one rows between the lateral-line and base of the first dorsal fin; along the sides on the lower surface of the abdomen [LYNX they become nearly indistinguishable.

Several rows below the eyes passing across the cheek. Lateral-line-nearly straight.

A keel along either side of the root of each lobe of the caudal fin. Air-bladderabsent. Colours-the upper third of the body is of a beautiful green shot with blue, while the sides and abdomen are radiant with gold, purple, and silvery shades.

About thirty-five V-shaped bands pass downwards from the back and terminate just below or on the lateral-line; a dark stripe, sometimes interrupted, goes from the base of the pectoral fin along the side a little distance below the lateral-line. A light yellow colour behind the eye. Fins dark, and generally with a black, whiteedged outer line; or the body, to just below the lateral-line, may be covered with small black spots, or scribbled markings. Donovan asserted that the males have straight transverse stripes, and the females undulated ones, the correctness of which the writer has been unable to verify. It has likewise been observed that the male has a more slender form and an elongated gill-cover.

Day, Fishes of Great Britain and Ireland, vol. i. p. 84. [See also SEA-FISHING.] MARKHOR (Capra megaceros). Of this noble Asiatic wild goat four local races are known, mainly distinguished by the shape of their horns. A full-grown buck of the Pir Punjal and Kaj-Nag ranges, south and west of the Kashmir Valley, stands quite 44 inches at the shoulder. Its general colour, like that of most wild animals, varies with the seasons. During spring and summer, the predominant hue of its rough coat and the face is a dirty yellowishwhite. Towards winter it becomes tawny grey. Its legs and its very short tail are brown. From its shoulders, neck, and chest depends a shaggy beard, tawny brown above, almost black below, and sometimes reaching lower than the knees; which, with its massive V-shaped spiral horns, gives this king of wild goats a truly majestic appearance. The finest horn the writer ever measured was a single one of most exceptional length, purchased at a village in the Kaj-Nag range. It was 63 inches long, following the twist. The usual size, however, of what may be termed fine horns of this race is from 40 to 50 inches, with two and sometimes three complete corkscrew shaped turns, and a basal circumference of nearly a foot. The doe, termed buckri or she-goat, is only about half the size of the full-grown buck. She carries comparatively thin spiral horns which MARKHOR] seldom exceed about 15 inches, and is hardly distinguishable in a band from the rind, as the young buck is called. The hoary old bucks only are termed markhor, and they generally herd separately from the does and young bucks, except during the latter part of the year, from October.

The horns of the race met with in the mountains of Astor and its neighbouring districts northward of the Kashmir Vale are much wider spread and have fewer twists, but they are about equal in length and circumference.

The markhor of the type found on the hills north and east of the Peshawur Valley, in trans-frontier and Afghan territory, carry horns of a shape and twist something midway between the above two races, while those found on the comparatively low and arid Sulimani range in the Derajat country north-west of the Punjab are somewhat smaller and less shaggy, with horns screwing more sharply, like a twisted ribbon. a The Kashmir and Astor races of the markhor affect very precipitous craggy ground, more or less forest-clad, and intersected by terribly steep slopes of short grass, and immense slips of bare stony earth or old snow. Consequently their pursuit is attended with much difficulty, and often with danger. The surface of these slips is usually so rotten and friable, and the short grass on the slopes is, when dry, so smooth and slippery as to make the footing there most precarious. Even in winter, the bighorned old bucks seldom descend from their lofty fastnesses, where they are said then to subsist chiefly on pine-shoots.

For such ground the writer found hobnailed boots safer than pulas (sandals made of twisted straw or long grass), which, admirably suited as they are for foothold on hard snow, ice, and rock, are worse than useless on those precipitous slopes of short slippery grass and rotten earth or snow which have so frequently to be traversed in Kashmir markhor hunting. It it as well, however, to have both handy for use as may be required.

The other two races affect difficult but more open ground, and are met with at much lower altitudes and in more arid localities.

In the mountains around the Kashmir valley the old bucks are always difficult to find, owing to their affecting such inaccessible places, where they are wont to keep themselves much hidden among the pines and birches growing thereon. Their agility, for animals of such a size, is extraordinary, but on being disturbed or even shot at, they seldom move off fast, but they almost invariably travel long distances ere they settle down again. Unlike the does and young bucks, these old patriarchs seem to trust their safety rather more to concealment and the inaccessibility of their haunts than to eye, nose, or ear. But when once they are found, except for the difficulty and danger of following them up, with ordinary care they can usually be circumvented with tolerable facility, and a wounded one MARKHOR. a (1897) seldom, if ever, turns to defend itself when approached.

Owing to constant pursuit, Kashmir markhor have considerably decreased in numbers in some of their more easily reached pristine haunts, for instance, in the Pir Punjal range, where they were once comparatively plentiful.

As regards weapons, a 450 bore double express rifle with projectile of soft lead and as much powder behind it as the barrels can stand will be found the handiest weapon for markhor-shooting as well as for that of all other Himalayan game of the goat and sheep tribes. The sportsman must be prepared to rough it in every respect, and an experienced local guide is indispensable for the difficult and dangerous ground N2 which must necessarily be traversed if he hope for success.

DONALD MACINTYRE.

MILITARY SPORTS. In the case of a nation devoted to athletic exercises of all kinds, and possessing honourable records of military prowess, it is natural that many sports, essentially military in their origin, have been adopted and become popular outside the ranks of the professional soldier. This fact necessitates a division of the subject into two sections. The first includes all sports which, while not forming part of what may be considered the drills or evolutions laid down in the authorised drill books, are analogous thereto, and are really exercises with service weapons or blunted substitutes for them. The second section embraces all sports not coming within such a definition, but adopted as affording amusement, while at the same time tending to develop physique, more especially in those directions which would be of advantage to a soldier under service conditions, such as running, swimming, climbing, and other similar exercises. In recent years the sports most favoured by the army have varied from time to time, but the following may be taken as including those most usually practised at the present date :- Polo (for which see POLO), fencing (see FENCING), shooting, tent-pegging, tug-ofwar, artillery driving, heads and posts, lemon cutting, tilting at the ring, bayonet fighting, obstacle races, wrestling on horseback, tug-of-war on horseback, Balaclava mêlée, Victoria Cross race, ball and bucket, bareback riding or vaulting on horseback, of some of which we will proceed to give the main features.

Shooting has been greatly improved by the formation of rifle and gun clubs, which are personally assisted and encouraged by the officers of the army, especially by the musketry staff, as conducing to readiness of aim and quickness of eye. Military shooting competitions are usually carried out with service rifles, seven shots being fired at each of three ranges, the positions being defined by the executive. The distances depend very much upon the range available for the competition, for some are not safe at the longer distances with the new service rifle, the Lee-Enfield Mark II.

There are also team competitions, combining drill and shooting, marching and shooting, or all three; while the mounted services have similar arrangements for teaching riding, shooting, jumping, and steadiness of horses under fire. [MILITARY SPORTS Tent-pegging appears to have been originally so named from the use of an ordinary tent-peg as a mark for a lancer's practice. The mark is now usually a specially prepared, well-seasoned piece of wood, 12 ins. long and 3 ins. wide, the length out of the ground being 6 ins. It should be hammered into clay puddled so as to dry stiff. The competitor is armed with a regulation lance, and must make the run at the full speed of his horse, while the point of the lance has to be kept up to within a TENT-PEGGING. certain distance, say 15 yards, from the peg.

The usual method of allotting marks is: for touching the peg two, for moving it four, and for carrying it away (provided it is carried to the end of the running track, usually about 20 yards) six points.

Pace is considered of great importance, points being deducted if insufficient. In India they manage to combine tent-pegging with pig-sticking by driving in a peg in a position unknown to the competitors, who, being told the general direction only (generally by the blowing of horns), go in search of the peg. He who returns with the peg on his lance point is declared the winner. دو In Lemon Cutting the lemons are suspended at the right of the track, about the height of a mounted man's shoulder, usually about 15 yards apart. For the first, cavalry cut one to the right is used, and for the second, cut two to the right, the sword being carried at the "right engage until within 15 yards of the first lemon.

The usual marks are three for either lemon cut singly; the same pace has to be maintained as in tent-pegging, and the lemons must be severed by a clean cut. While the lemons are usually cut with a regulation sword at the height named, some expert swordsmen have varied and made the MILITARY SPORTS] competition more interesting by having some of the lemons at the height of an infantry man, and by having sheep hung up to be cut alternately with the lemons.

LEMON CUTTING.

Of course a heavy sword or lead-cutter is required for this, and it is usually rather a display than a part of the competition.

Tilting at the ring is not so frequently a matter of competition as formerly; the rings are I ins. inside diameter, and are suspended in the same position as the lemons, speed having to be the same.

DUMMY THRUSTING.

The competitor endeavours to take the rings on his lance, which must be held in the proper way behind the guard, which must be at the balance, and the ring or rings must be carried to the end of the running track, and then brought back to the official appointed to see that they are on the lance. The marks are, for one ring three, and eight if both are taken.

Dummy Thrusting. The introduction of the new pattern of cavalry sword, which has no cutting edge, but is designed for thrusting only, has necessarily caused some modification in cavalry sword practice.

The old heads and posts competition, which included all the cuts and points which were practised with the cutting sword, is now rarely or never practised.

The dummy thrusting competition takes place over a course (see diagram) which includes four jumps and five thrusts with the sword. The dummies are figures dressed in khaki, mounted on a powerful steel spring which terminates in a point at the base, which is driven into the ground.

On the breast of the dummy is a cardboard target, size inner ring two inches diameter, outer ring five inches diameter. Pace to 80 Ft 1st J Finish Start 4J ol Θa 60----- od 2nd J. 3rd J. 20 30 40 50 60 Yards DUMMY THRUSTING.

A point to be delivered at each of the following objects: (A) Dummy breast-high (cavalry) on the right. (B) Dummy shoulder-high (cavalry) on the left. (c) Dummy breast-high (infantry) on the right. (D) Dummy breast-high (cavalry) on the left. (E) Dummy on the ground, on the right. :

Weight of frame of dummy uncovered, 6 lb. The cover when packed with cotton waste, 5 lb. Total, 11 lb. be at a fair speed, not more than thirty seconds, one mark deducted for every second over time. Marks, two for hit on the inner ring of the target, one mark for hit on the outer ring, nothing for hit outside outer ring; one mark for each jump. The spring upon which the dummy is built causes it to resume an upright position after receiving a thrust from the sword.

In Artillery driving competitions are for the encouragement of drivers in the Royal Artillery, and, by exciting emulation, aid in the attainment of that wonderful perfection which has gained for the British artillery the admiration of foreign experts.

England, gates and wooden blocks, called pegs, are arranged on the ground for the gun to pass through, the course to be taken being distinctly laid out. In India, instead of these wooden blocks, earthenware chatties or pots are used, these going to pieces directly they are touched by the horses' feet or the wheels. The rules are as follows:- Distances. Between gate-posts, 9 ins. more than the mean length of the axle-trees of the particular guns and limbers of each team competing; between pegs, 6 ins. more than the mean tracks. R.F.A. teams to pass bridle hand to bridle hand at both ends and on the centre. Turning pegs are 17 and 20 yards from the centre gates; 2 yards between each set of gates. Pegs for 5-in. howitzers, 3 yards apart; for 18pounders, 24 yards apart. Outer pegs, 18 ins. from the side of the arena.

Times. In order to gain full marks, the driving competitions must be completed in the times stated below, otherwise I mark will be deducted for each second over those ENTRANCE 258 GATE GATE 6 GATE POST (36 Yards fromcentre) 1.4.7.

GATE 8Yds CATE 3 ROYAL HORSE ARTILLERY GALLOPING.

GATE times. R.H.A., galloping, I min. 35 sec.; R.F.A., trotting, I min. 5 sec. The judges are authorised to add marks not exceeding 3 for R.H.A. or 6 for R.F.A. for style in driving in every run. The time will be taken by chronograph from the time the first gun axle passes the first gate to the time [MILITARY SPORTS Penalty for each post touched, including turning posts, I mark; knocked down, 3 marks. 24 ENTRANCE 3 2 21 2 24 24- ROYAL BOX 4 24 6 5.

EXIT 4 ROYAL FIELD ARTILLERY TROTTING. (1) and (6) are the ordinary gates, with 2 yards between each set of gates. (2) and (4) are the ordinary pegs at the usual intervals, but 3 yards or 2 yards apart, according to batteries competing.

The outside pegs 1½ feet from the side of the arena. (3) and (5) are turning-pegs for each team. 2 R.F.A., clean run, 60 marks. Penalty for each peg touched, including turning pegs, marks. Penalty for each peg gone outside, including turning pegs, 3 marks. Penalty for each post knocked down, 3 marks. A touch by any part of the horse, harness, or equipment will count as above. When a team is stopped for "leg over the trace," or in the case of an accident not due to bad driving, a new run will be allowed (all marks lost up to time of accident to count), and no style marks will be given if the accident is due to traces being slack. All marks for a run to be forfeited for any mistake in the course.

Tug-of-War is now a very favourite pastime. Teams of different regiments, usually consisting of ten per side, endeavour ARTILLERY DRIVE. PASSING THROUGH THE GATES. the last gun axle passes the last gate before leaving the arena. The proper "aids for driving" to be shown correctly by the drivers in the several changes from right to left and vice versa.

Marks.-R.H.A., clean run, 25 marks. to pull their opponents over a mark. Each team has a captain or coach.

The rules generally acknowledged are that there should be two pulls out of three, competitors not to be allowed to sit down; no knots, or loops in the rope, or spikes in MILITARY SPORTS] boots allowed, the distance of the pull-over for teams of limited weight to be 12 ft.; for catch-weights, 18 ft.

There are generally separate competitions for teams whose aggregate weight does not exceed IIO st., for teams whose aggregate THE TATE LIBRARY, BRIXTON, S.W. against another, there is team against team.

There are two methods of arranging this competition, one in which a team of nine men (eight men and a commander) fight against an equal team in pairs, the defeated men to sit or lie down, and the team having OBSTACLE RACE. weight does not exceed 130 st., and for catch-weights. Umpires should check weights and inspect boots before starting the pull.

In the Navy, where space is restricted, the rope is frequently passed through a block, and on board ship competitors are barefooted, but this really makes no difference to the result. In training teams for tug-of-war the chief point is to make them hang back steadily with their dead weight on the rope, only pulling together by signal or word from the coach. In practice it is found that this result is best obtained by tying the rope to some hold-fast and putting the team to pull steadily upon it. Afterwards put them to pull strong scratch teams in order to obtain the experience of the sway and give and take, which is the point the coach must feel almost without seeing.

Bayonet Fighting is a recent development of bayonet competitions that is to say, that instead of these being one man the greater number standing to be the winner. The two leaders will, if it is necessary, decide the event fight last; but a far better way, when a sufficient number of judges are available, is for the eight men on each side to engage simultaneously under their commander, who gives general instructions, and any man who has beaten his opponent to be at liberty to assist one of his own side.

This manner of conducting the engagement more closely resembles such a mêlée as would occur on service.

Obstacle Races form a very useful means of testing the powers of endurance possessed by the soldier, and of showing who have been best trained for carrying their whole marching equipment in climbing, running, and creeping through narrow places, and over such artificial obstacles as generally represent the difficulties that would occur on service. When we read that the human pyramid, which is taught in the gymnasium of the army, has been found of considerable use in escalading, it is evident that such tricks may prove themselves of great practical value in time of war. [MILITARY SPORTS Wrestling on Horseback is another exercise which may be looked at from two points of view.

Usually six men compete with another OBSTACLE RACE: HANDING A GUN OVER A HEDGE.

Military Rides. A musical double ride is now a recognised and popular feature in any military sports or display. It is usually performed by thirty-six riders, and is intended to display the horsemanship of the men and the training of the horses.

It should be timed to last not longer than ten minutes, the figures to be executed being team, and although it may appear that the success of a team depends on the better riding and strength of each individual of that team, it is often found that the weaker team wins, because of better arrangement in combination. Special leather jackets or extra strong football jerseys should be worn, and be clearly marked with the team colours.

MUSICAL RIDE BY THE 21ST LANCERS left to the individual taste of the organiser of the ride. The first movement is at the trot, the second at the canter, and the ride finishes with a charge, the band playing music suitable to the different movements.

No boots are allowed; the horses have only bridoon and no saddles.

The same remark as to combination applies to tug-of-war on horseback, in which the rope, instead of being handled by men MILITARY SPORTS] on foot, is in the hands of men on horseback. The teams having their backs to one another, it is quite evident that unless a team are sufficiently good horsemen to get their horses to work together as well as hold on their horses, they have not much chance of success.

A skilful combination is also the chief requisite for success in the Balaclava Mêlée, in which there are four or six men on each side, who wear singlestick or fencing jackets, and singlestick helmets, in which are stuck paper plumes of different colours for each team, the object being to deprive the opposing team of these plumes, the mêlée conone side, while the competitors represent a relief or rescuing party, who jump into the arena, fire through the farther side at the enemy, mounting the wounded (as shown by the dummies). The triumphant return with them to the main body can be made very realistic.

The competition known as Ball and Bucket is one requiring good horsemanship, a good eye, and great judgment. It consists of dropping a tennis ball into an ordinary galvanised iron bucket, while at a canter, in such a way that it shall stop there.

Combats, or contests with weapons, form an important part of the military sports in BALACLAVA MÊLÉE. tinuing until the "Halt" is sounded, when the opposing sides form up and the plumes are carefully inspected to ascertain which party has the victory, as judged by the remnant of plumes left in the helmets or masks. This is usually provocative of laughter, the competitors eagerly searching for their plumes or tufts, oblivious of the fact that they are scattered over the arena. Spurs are not allowed.

The Victoria Cross Race is especially a training for a man who may have to carry away a wounded comrade from an enemy under fire. This is usually carried out by the party having to go over a jump to another hedge, behind which lie a number of dummies, there to fire a round, pick up their dummy comrades, carrying them back over the first jump to the starting place.

The idea is that the wounded have defended a zeriba, which is still being attacked from the army, the mounted events being: Sword v. sword, sword v. lance; dismounted events are sabre v. sabre, foils, bayonet v. bayonet.

Horses should be in drill order, stripped saddles and without headropes, competitors in undress uniform, but with a mask and leather jacket instead of uniform jacket and cap.

Dismounted competitors should wear gloves and proper pads to prevent accident, and are usually allowed to wear flannels and gymnasium shoes.

Of each pair, one should wear red and the other a distinctive colour, usually yellow.

It is a great convenience if the first man of a pair wears the red. The arm badges should be made red on one side and yellow on the other, so as to turn instead of being removed.

The dismounted combatants use sabres nearly identical in shape and weight with the regulation infantry sword, but with a button point, dummy rifles with solid bayonets sliding on a spring down inside the barrel and with a pad on the top, or the French foil; mounted men use the same sabres as dismounted men, and dummy lances well padded at point and butt.

The bouts are usually conducted on the "Pool" system that is, all competitors entering are divided into "Pools," as a rule not more than eight in each "Pool." Each competitor is to meet every other competitor in the "Pool" in which he is entered. Each bout is then divided by the first 3 hits scored against either competitor (12 marks in the case of mounted men).

In France, the headquarters of fencing, so small a number of hits would be considered indecisive, whilst they also prefer many more judges than the three usual in England.

In mounted combats competitors are ordered to canter round until the order "Attack" is given, and (as in all competitions) must fight on until stopped by a judge. In combats where the opponents use different weapons, the "Pools" are made up of odd numbers. The first pair toss for choice of weapons, afterwards exchanging in each bout. By this method each combatant uses the different weapons the same number of times.

Riding and Jumping is always a favourite display and competition, as in it men are under very different rules from those in a riding and jumping competition at an ordinary horse show, where the object is to get over. The judge of the military VICTORIA CROSS RACE. rider has to consider style, hands, and seat as well as jumping.

In recent years the directors of military sports have adopted nearly every sport that has been found amongst civilians, so as to encourage competition amongst the soldiers and develop their physical training.

WALLIS KING. [MILITARY SPORTS MOOSE (Alces machlis). The largest, and in certain ways the most remarkable of all the deer is the moose, the New World designation for the western representative of the elk (q.v.) of the Old World. Zoologists have not been able to separate these two forms by any well-marked line, although there are certain noticeable diflawell MOOSE. ferences between them. Let us regard them, then, as a single species, circumpolar in its range. While the elk ranges as far south as Prussia and the Caucasus, the lower boundaries of Manitoba and Assiniboia probably represent the moose's southern range.

The antlers of the adult bull moose, springing from either side of a high frontal prominence, extend in a beam that is at right angles to the middle line of the skull, and expand into an extremely wide palmated bowl-shaped mass, divisible into an upper and a lower portion, the edges of which bear the numerous points. An exceptional pair of antlers may weigh as much as 60 lb. A big bull moose has been found to measure at the shoulder 72 inches or 18 hands; while in Alaska even this stature is exceeded.

When in the full vigour of life the bull moose has a curious process of hairy skin, some 4 or 5 inches long, called the "bell," hanging from its throat. The function of this is not understood.

The colour of a bull moose in early winter is a glistening black, though he is lighter; under his belly and on the legs. Later on in the season the coat turns grey. Females and young are grey, and very old males sometimes incline to white. The colour of the skin of a newly-dropped fawn in the writer's possession may be thus described :

MOOSE] sides and shoulders, the dark sable-brown of the British water-rat; a stripe, 3 inches broad, of lighter brown down the back, widening over the quarters and fading to chestnut down the hocks. From the neck MOOSE. to the lumbar region down the middle of the back is a dark "mule-mark."

The antlers of the moose are dropped about mid-winter. The coat is shed twicein May and September. The rutting season, which begins in September, is at its height by October, and the calves, usually one, more rarely two in number, are dropped in May. Although a bull in the rutting season will travel great distances, challenging other bulls, moose appear to be largely monogamous. Each family holds together through the year, and a bull moose in the prime is not often found in the solitary state. Moose feed principally on leaves and twigs of trees; they are particularly fond of young shoots of the spruce, birch, willow, poplar, and the red dog-wood, the shrub whose inner bark or "cambium" is dried and smoked as tobacco by the Red Indians under the name of kinikinik.

During the depth of winter several of these animals will congregate and form a "yard," probably for mutual protection against wolves. These "yards" are not, in the writer's experience, the rectangular camps they have been said to be; those that have come under his notice being alike in character. A spot situated in the closest part of the forest having been selected by the moose, the snow is trampled down and scraped together into a kind of central compound." From the centre, irregular paths or alleys run for a short distance in many directions, by which the animals go to feed.

As regards hunting, moose are sometimes taken by the Indians by means of a noose and running block fixed up in the paths along which they travel. Again, in time of deep snow, when, under the influence of the sun and frost, the snow is covered with a hard skin, the Indian hunters pursue them on snow shoes. The hard surface of the snow bears the hunter well enough, but the moose, sinking deep at every plunge, and cut about the legs by the knife-edge of the ice, soon succumbs and is despatched. Indians have told me that they also kill the moose in the water when it goes in summer to bathe and feed on lily roots.

There are only two forms of moosehunting, so far as the writer is aware, which can be fairly classed as "sport." The first is the "call." This is described subsequently.

The other form of legitimate hunting referred to consists in following the animal in autumn on foot, and is known as the "still-hunt." This might be classed as a form of stalking, were it not that it takes place in dense forest and its success depends entirely upon knowledge of woodcraft and the creature's habits; for the moose itself is invisible until the moment arrives for the shot.

AUBYN TREVOR-BATTYE. [From "Hunting Camps in Wood and Wilderness," H. Hesketh Prichard.

HUNTER WITH BIRCH BARK HORN.

MOOSE-CALLING. - Moose-calling is the art of attracting the bull-moose by an imitation of the call of the cow or of a rival of his own sex. In Eastern Canada, where moose-calling reaches its highest perfection, the thrice repeated call of the female is almost universally used to lure the bull within range of the hunter's rifle.

In the west, the few callers that exist imitate the bull's harsh grunt as a challenge, or beat in the alders with a cast horn, to produce the sound of a bull threshing with his [MOOSE and it becomes too dark for the hunter to see the sights of his rifle. If the bull answers the call, the first intimation which reaches the hunter is usually the noise of a breaking stick as the great deer forces his way through the bushes, and as he approaches he usually gives vent to a series of deep grunts. If the wind be right, the bull will make straight for the place whence the call has been uttered, but if the air carries to him any taint of human presence, he will dash off at once and soon be swallowed up in the woods. [From a drawing by Lady Helen Graham.

BULL MOOSE COMING TO A CALL. horns, a trick which sometimes suffices to bring up any rival within hearing. But in Eastern Canada the moose are very much more sophisticated, and, though nearly every guide claims to be a "caller," yet those who exercise the art with even the smallest degree of success are few and far between.

The place chosen for calling is generally some lake, and thither the hunter and caller repair in the late afternoon. Their equipment consists of a canoe, a rifle, and a birch-bark horn upwards of two feet long.

Just upon sunset, the caller takes the horn and gives the calls. The sound is something between a bellow and a moan, and is three times repeated, the final call being more prolonged than the others. An expert can throw his voice four miles. If no response comes, the call is repeated every twenty or thirty minutes until the light fails, Time.-Bull-moose begin to answer the call as early as September Ist in some seasons; in others they disregard it as late as the 15th of the same month. The calling time continues into October, and the writer has known a bull answer a call as late as October 21st, but this occurred in an exceptionally open season. [See also ELK.] H. HESKETH PRICHARD.

MOTOR-BOATING. - Motor-boating is naturally an off-shoot of motoring, for it was the development of the internal combustion engine which began to be used in small motor-boats which gave origin to the word "motor-boat." It was not till about MOTOR-BOATING] "THORNYCROFT" "THORNYCROFT" "THORNYCROFT™ Cab Water Cask = Folding Cable SEMI-RACING LAUNCH. filles pire to Taph O O SEA-GOING CRUISER LAUNCH.

Petrol Tank crew space 2 C 보드 1901-2 that this fitting of a petrol engine into a boat claimed any measure of attention.

In one or two cases private owners had fitted auxiliary motors to their craft, notably Gottlieb Daimler himself, who experimented with one of his early petrol engines for marine propulsion. Moreover, it was not [MOTOR-BOATING the Mercédès boat. This vessel achieved a speed of 19 miles an hour. The Napier boat, built by the English firm, while competing in another French racing event, covered the course at a rate of 17+ miles an hour.

At the end of 1902 the Motor-Yacht Club THE DUKE OF WESTMINSTER'S "URSULA" AT MONTE CARLO. difficult to see that, as soon as the petrol engine became anything like reliable, its adoption for marine purposes would soon follow. The fitting of a steam engine to a yacht or boat entails a fair amount of space being taken up for the somewhat cumbersome boiler and machinery, whereas the space required for a petrol engine, even one of fairly large horse-power, is but small compared with the other methods of propulsion. As an auxiliary, also, to a sailing vessel, a motor engine is a great boon, for, when becalmed, one only needs to start up the engine, and then the vessel is independent of wind and weather and tide. In 1902-3 the building of motor-launches made immense strides, and many wellknown firms entered the ranks of constructors of marine motors. The lightness of the craft fitted with the new mode of propulsion, and the handiness with which they could be manipulated, soon made motoring on water most popular. From the sporting point of view, also, 1903 saw the inauguration of many racing events, which tended to encourage the development of the movement. The first race for the British International Motor-Boat Cup, presented by Lord Northcliffe, took place in Cork Harbour, while one of the most popular of Continental events was started, the race from Paris to the sea down the River Seine, which was organised in this year, and resulted in a win on the first occasion for was started, an organisation which has since received the privilege to call itself Royalon October 3rd, 1910. This body sprang from the Marine Motoring Committee of the Automobile Club, which had previously conducted all matters connected with motoring by water. Some time afterwards, when members were enrolled in sufficient numbers, the Royal Motor Yacht Club purchased and fitted up the old Admiralty yacht, the Enchantress, which was stationed in Southampton Water, opposite Netley, and used as a club-house. The popularity of this novel floating club-house soon grew, and the Enchantress became the centre of aquatic motor sport on the sea. In 1906 the Admiralty granted the Royal Motor Yacht Club permission to carry the Blue Ensign. The club burgee has one white and two blue stripes horizontally placed with a threebladed propeller in the middle of the white portion of the flag, a crown being placed in the flag as well.

The British Motor-Boat Club began its sphere of activity in 1905, and organised various race meetings in the season, chiefly in the Solent and at Burnham-on-Crouch.

This body deals more particularly with local marine events and motor-boating on rivers and estuaries, and has done much good work in organising racing contests at various yachting resorts. The burgee of the British Motor Boat Club is blue with a red St.

Andrew's Cross edged with white lines.

MOTOR-BOATING] These two bodies, with the Marine Motor Association, which acts chiefly as a legislative and measurement authority, form the two associations representative of motorboating both from a sporting and utilitarian point of view.

The progress of motor-boating, though not so rapid as that of motoring, has yet been remarkable. Speeds have grown till from 20 knots as a maximum in 1905 they have reached over 40 knots an hour in 1910.

When it is remembered that resistance to a boat running through water is very considerable, estimated to increase as the square of the velocity, it will be understood what this means. Improvements in the shape of the hull, and increase in engine-power necessary to develop double the speed from 20 to 40 knots an hour, must therefore have been very great. The engines in motorboats were first of all either the actual engines used in motor-cars on land, or were designed on the same principle, and it was not till two or three years had elapsed that special engines were designed for motorboat work. The conditions under which the marine engine works are totally different from those of a motor-car. To begin with, the strain put upon the marine engine is, as a rule, continuous in other words, as if the motor-car was running perpetually up-hill, with no stops or slacks-down for corners or traffic-and, secondly, the propeller must not turn more than a certain number of revolutions per minute, or it begins to "cavitate" or "bell "-in other words, its effective force is greatly reduced, for it only revolves in propellers. The need for an explosive engine for marine purposes developing high power at slow engine speeds has led to the lengthening of the stroke in the case of the modern motor-boat engine. From the bore and stroke being the same size, say 5 inches in each case, the stroke has gradually increased to in some cases nearly double the bore, thereby giving greater compression, more force in the explosion, and an engine which will turn slowly and give a power equal to the usual explosive engine in motorcars which turns so much more quickly. The multiplication of cylinders on the same shaft has also been the result of marine development. In some cases there are now even as many as twelve cylinders acting on the same shaft giving increased steadiness and evenness of torque. The cooling arrangements are also more simple than on land, but a difficulty still exists in the water cooling of the exhaust in the case of non-racing boats, especially if taken out through the stern of the vessel, and therefore obliged to be water cooled throughout. In most of the racing boats of the best type, such as the Ursula (1909), the Duke of Westminster's fast boat, which has achieved a record of speed wherever she competed, there are twin propellers, which are operated by many cylinders on each shaft. The Pioneer and other boats built in 1910 have, however, only one shaft.

Turning to sporting contests, the race from Paris to the sea in 1904 was run in six sections, each section being run on different days. Mercédès IV., a boat fitted "NAPIER II.," WINNER OF THE INTERNATIONAL TROPHY, 1905. a partial vacuum or in froth. It has been ascertained that the best results are obtained with propellers which do not exceed 800 to 1,000 revolutions per minute, though higher speeds than this have often been obtained in the case of steam actuated turbines with specially designed blades on the Later with the well-known engine which had already become so famous in road racing, took the first place, reaching the sea in a total time of 7 hrs. 34 mins. 16 secs. in the year, however, a very fast boat, built by the Richard Brasier firm, Trèfle-à- Quatre, made some very good times, covering a course of 621 miles on one occasion in 2 hrs. 20 mins. The race for the British International Cup took place in 1905 at Arcachon, near Bordeaux, and was gained by Napier II., jointly owned by Mr. Lionel de Rothschild and Lord Montagu, and steered by the latter. Southampton Water [MOTOR-BOATING British waters, but was held in Huntingdon Bav, near New York. The British challengers were the Wolseley Siddeley boat and Daimler II., their American opponents being Dixie II. and Den. Dixie II. led from the beginning of the race, and although the Duke of Westminster's Wolseley Sid- "DIXIE II" WINNING THE INTERNATIONAL TROPHY AT LONG ISLAND, 1910. was the scene of the following year's contest, and a course was laid out near the Enchantress, the headquarters of the Motor- Yacht Club, but in this year no foreign boat competed, and the race resolved itself into a match between the three English entrants only. Yarrow Napier, practically the same boat as Napier II. of the previous year, was again the victor on this occasion, Lord deley boat made some fast running, the cup again went to the American vessel.

On the Continent, Monaco became the headquarters of the racing and exhibition events during the spring of each year, and during that time some very fine performances have been put up in the bay by both foreign and British craft.

The summer of 1908 witnessed some good RACING LAUNCH IN THE SOLENT ("SCOLOPENDRA").

Montagu again being at the helm. In 1907 the cup was again contested for on Southampton Water, and was won by the American boat Dixie, which was fitted with an eight-cylinder Simplex engine of 150 h.p.

In 1908 the race, in consequence of the American boat's victory, was not run in racing results for British craft, the Duke of Westminster's Ursula, after the spring Monaco meeting, naturally taking the premier place in the fast racing motor-boat class. This boat was designed by Saunders, of Cowes, and is fitted with two Wolseley engines of a power estimated at 240 h.p.

MOTOR-BOATING] Another vessel which made good showing for England was the Thornycroft boat Gyrinus II. This latter vessel beat her foreign rivals in the Prix de la Méditerranée in the spring, and during the following summer raced continuously in English waters. At the Motor Yacht Club's annual regatta, Gyrinus covered 40 sea miles in 2 hrs. 28 mins., 26 secs., in another case covering a 3-mile course in 9 mins.

From the utilitarian point of view, reports from various builders during 1909–10 show that the motor-boat, whether for sea or river work, is rapidly replacing the older form of steam launch and pinnace, and motor auxiliaries have greatly increased in number amongst both private owners and steamship and fishing companies. The reliability of the marine motor was now so well established that the trade gradually decreased their entries in the various trials organised by the governing bodies. Consequently amateur entries increased, and more purely sporting element is beginning to prevail. In 1909 the Motor Yacht Club and the British Motor-boat Club passed rules disallowing any boat to run under a trade name-this step encouraging a genuine enthusiasm for racing craft amongst marine motorists unconnected with the manufacturers of hulls and engines. a Apart from the sporting craft and racing boats, the adoption of mechanical motorpower by fishing boats and trawlers has been somewhat extensive, and this means of proparts must be absolutely watertight, on account of the heavy seas such a boat would have to encounter when on a life-saving "GYRINUS," WINNER OF THE GRAND PRIX DE LA MEDITERRANÉE AT MONACO. mission. But an experiment was made under the auspices of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution in the spring of 1904, and a lifeboat fitted with a motor engine 中 FURL TANG "GYRINUS一 8 METRE RACING LAUNCH Length, over-all, 26 ft.; breadth, over plane, 5 ft. 4 in.; draft, amidships, 8 in.; speed, 23.5 m.p.h. pulsion has also been tried in connection with lifeboats. Naturally, in the latter case, there were several difficulties which made it no easy task, for the motor had to be more than usually reliable to be of real use in stormy weather, and also all working VOL. III was provided at Folkestone, which has since been followed by several others.

Dealing with the organising and club aspect of motor-boating, it is unfortunate that certain differences which led to some amount of friction have arisen from time to time amongst the leading motor-boat associations of the various districts, and in the endeavour to minimise this friction, and in order to secure certain codes of rules for international racing purposes, the [MOTOR-BOATING a universal code of rules, measurements, &c., has already led to the general development of the sport amongst those countries interested in the marine engine. It is evident that, to provide good sport, H D I C CUD ニニンア B Cockpit E A G "MIRANDA IV. (HYDROPLANE.) Length, 26 ft.; beam, 6 ft.

A. 100-h.p. Thorneycroft motor.

B. Propeller.

C. Exhaust pipe opening.

D. Rudder.

E. Steering wheel.

H F.

G.

H.

I.

Clutch and fly-wheel Ledge of plane.

Forward hatch.

Fuel tank. 中 Marine Motor Association, after some negotiations between this country and the Continental authorities, received recognition from foreign bodies connected with marine motoring and the various clubs here, and was duly instituted as the governing body, or "Yacht Racing Association" of motorboats should be raced against others of more or less equal speed and power. Handicapping, though in most instances worked fairly and well in this country, has its drawbacks, and even the scientific system drawn up by the Marine Motor Association, dealing with points of both racing and time, has produced "MIRANDA IV.," THE LATEST THORNYCROFT HYDROPLANE, ON THE THAMES, JULY, 1910. boat sport. At the present time, save for the competitions for the British International Cup and the Monaco meetings, most sporting events are either local inter-club contests, yet the formulation of or complications. Designers are naturally on their mettle to beat rules by fair means, and often do so. Also, for the encouragement of designers and navigators, class racing produces better results. The tendency, MOTOR-BOATING] therefore, towards various class designs is growing, and quite recently the Royal Motor Yacht Club adopted a one-design formula, which bids fair to enhance further the chances of some good racing in the coming and air and water, or froth, produce less skin friction than water only. Sir John Thornycroft, who has studied this subject more than anyone else, has now produced a very fast hydroplane, Miranda IV., "DESPUJOLS" WINNING THE PRIX DE MONACO. seasons. During the autumn of 1909 the Marine Motor Association greatly altered the racing rules applying to motor-boat sport, the most important alteration being a new method of computing horse-power by the area of the exhaust valve opening.

Further alterations are in process of formulation for future events. Hydroplanes. - As far as such inventions are recorded, the first building of a hydroplane took place about 1872, but it is only within the last two or three years that they have been seriously considered by makers, or. become known to the public in any great degree. The hydroplane is designed to lift itself on the surface of the water and skim over it, rather than to cut through the water like an ordinary boat. The resistance of the water is therefore much reduced, and much less power in the engine will suffice for a high speed. The hydroplane depends for its lifting power on planes which are fitted underneath the hull in a similar way to the planes fitted to the majority of aeroplanes, or on a special design of the hull itself. There is another reason why the hydroplane encounters less resistance when travelling over a certain speed than a boat with a keel; it is because she is running on bubbles of air instead of on water only; with a moderate engine-power, which has achieved remarkable speeds up to the time of writing, a speed of over 40 knots an hour having been achieved; and at Monte Carlo the Brasier Despujols hydroplane, in the FRENCH-BUILT HYDROPLANE. matter of short-distance races and in calm water, vanquished Ursula, whose speed was upwards of 43 miles an hour, though the former possessed, it need hardly be added, something like one-fifth of the engine-power of the latter. The hydroplane is obviously capable of indefinite extension, especially if wings are perhaps added some day, and the boat lifted out of the water or made to skim from wave to wave, after the manner of the flying-fish; and it is interesting to note that Mr.

Rudyard Kipling, in his prophetic story "With the Night Mail," and in the imaginative and hypothetical advertisements accompanying the story-advertisements which are supposed to be taken from a magazine some fifty or HYDROPLANE SEEN FROM ABOVE. sixty years hence-foreshadows the "Bat" boat, which will hardly touch the water at all, but fly low over the water similar to the flying-fish, only dropping into water at low speeds, and rising again lightly from its surface. The attention of marine motorists was forcibly drawn to the hydroplane form of construction originally in the summer of 1908, when a French enthusiast, M. le Cas, brought over one of this type of boat, the Enchantress, and gave many [MOTOR-BOATING exhibitions of its capabilities. Many experiments and inventors followed this design, and only too many of them were doomed to failure.

The most common types of hydroplanes are as follows: (1) The two-plane type, and (2) the multi-plane type, which can be either flat-bottomed or hollow with Vshaped sections. The recent progress in hydroplanes has been very considerable, and speeds up to 40 miles an hour with engine developing below a hundred horse-power are not even possible but comparatively easily achieved.

No one who has been on board Sir John Thornycroft's Miranda IV. can have helped being struck with the ease with which this shape of boat cuts through the water compared with the older V-shaped type. There are, however, known and serious disadvantages when really stormy seas are to be encountered, and on a big scale such a shape would probably prove a failure, as the flat bottom would be unable to stand the pounding of continuous and heavy seas. But for racing purposes and in calm water the hydroplane will doubtless come more and more to the front, and speeds far in excess of the records of to-day (42 knots in October, 1910) will be reached.

MONTAGU.

MOUFFLON (Ovis musimon). The moufflon of Sardinia and Corsica, and another variety from Cyprus (Ovis ophion), are the European representatives of the great tribe of wild sheep, whose wide range of habitation extends through Asia from Armenia to Kamschatka. Like all wild animals, its numbers are steadily decreasing, and its range of country becoming more contracted in proportion to the larger numbers and improved weapons of the human population.

Distribution. - Moufflon are said to have inhabited parts of Greece and the Balearic Islands. It is certain that within historical times very large numbers were killed in Sardinia and Corsica. In the museum of the Capitol in Rome there is a sarcophagus, on the face of which is represented, in relief, a hunting scene in which the animal being pulled down by hounds carries a head very much resembling a moufflon. To-day the moufflon is practically confined to a few separate mountain districts in Sardinia. In Corsica there are known to exist at the present time a very few small bands. They are too few to afford any probability of an adequate return for the labour of finding them, and they are apparently in such imminent danger of extinction that the sports- MOUFFLON] man will certainly not wish to hasten their fate.

Even in Sardinia, where every man carries a gun and is, in theory, as good a hunter as his neighbour, the moufflon is now restricted to the higher and less populated mountain districts. Description. The moufflon ram in late autumn is a handsome and game-like animal of the true Ovis type. His figure and proportions are very much the same as those of the big-horn of the Rocky Mountains, or the Ovis hodgsoni of Tibet. His size is much smaller his height being some 27 to 28 inches at the shoulder, and his weight probably about 100 lb. The ram's general colour is a rich red-brown; belly, inside of legs and caudal disk, white; saddle, greywhite; throat, jet-black, with longer hair down to the breast; black line between the red and white on the side; black markings on shoulder and down the limbs after the fashion of the burrel. The horns are hollow, as in all sheep, and have the same transverse corrugations. They vary in form of curve. In some heads the curve lies almost in one plane, as in the shapoo; in others it takes the well-known "ram's horn" twist as in Ovis poli.

Measurements. - The greatest recorded length of horn known to the writer is 34 inches. This was an exceptional head.

Quite lately, heads of 29, 30, 30+ inches have been killed. Thirty inches may be called a good head. Anything over 25 or MOUFFLON.

Faldwell 26 inches may be taken as fair game; below that they should be spared, for there are none too many. The circumference is from 7 to 9 or IO inches. The female is smaller, less conspicuous in colour, and generally without horns. The rutting season is in November or December, and the lambs are born in April or May.

Method of Pursuit. -Like all wild sheep, the moufflon is difficult to stalk and tenacious of life when wounded. Moufflon HEAD OF MOUFFLON. ground in Sardinia is not precipitous. On the contrary, it is very easy walking. Crawling is not so pleasant. Rocks and gravel seem to have sharper points than ordinary; there is no soft ground, and, with the exception of "bruyère" heather, every little shrub is covered with thorns. The heather or "macquia is another obstacle. grows from 2 to 6 feet in height, and covers large masses of the lower ground. A moufflon who suffers from either heat or دو It cold, or who suspects danger, at once retires to the macquia, where he is as well concealed, as long as he stays there, as a rabbit in a furze bush.

The moufflon is very keen-sighted, and he makes full use of a very keen sense of smell. Mr. E. N. Buxton remarks on the habit of moufflon of lying just under the lee side of a ridge where two currents of air meet, and where they are quite unapproachable. They have another most aggravating habit. When "put away," they will make off at a great pace till they are out of sight behind some ridge or shoulder of the hill; they then immediately lie down in a place where they get the wind of the sportsman, who follows under the impression that they are still a long way ahead. Season. Probably the most sporting season in which to stalk moufflon is October or November. They are then still on the higher, barer ground, and are more easy to spy and to stalk, and they are less harassed by shepherds and their flocks. Moreover, the days are getting colder and the moufflon feed more during the day, instead of lying in the shade for many hours together. On the other hand, the rutting season is near, and the rams are constantly travelling from one place to another. Moreover, they are now generally in company with females, and an old ewe shows the most exasperating persistency in keeping her eyes upon any suspected quarter. In the early spring the MALE AND FEMALE MOUFFLON. rams are found separate from the ewes and are easier to approach. It is probable that larger numbers may be killed in the spring, but that the best rams are more to be seen during the autumn. Of course, they are fatter and in better coat and condition at that season.

The native method of hunting used to be continual driving to passes. Nowadays, there is more than one Sardinian hunter who has acquired considerable knowledge of the art of stalking for a quiet shot and of using the glass.

The mutton is excellent when well hung.

S. H. WHITBREAD.

MOUNTAINEERING. — History and Development of Mountain Exploration. -Mountaineering exploration, the direct and immediate offspring of mountaineering, is the most modern branch of geographical exploration; and geographical exploration is the investigation and record of the form of the earth's surface in its relation to man.

It is not enough to know the form alone.

The traversability of any portion of the earth is even more important. Where man can go, and where he cannot go, these are the areas the limits of which require to be defined, and can only be defined by experiment. Geographical experiment is called [MOUFFLON No No travel. A careful and observant traveller is to the science of geography what a careful experimentalist is to other sciences. Both must approach their problem and pursue its solution in the same spirit. Many portions of the earth's surface are, under present circumstances, inaccessible to man. diving apparatus yet invented can carry him far below the surface of the ocean. climber has yet authentically succeeded in reaching an altitude higher than about 24,500 feet. There was a time in the distant past when the surface of water was wholly inaccessible. The margin of the ocean met prehistoric man with a "thus far and no further." The invention of the craft of navigation opened the ocean to the passage of man. Similarly, the areas of perpetual snow were practically closed to human progress till a comparatively recent date. A few hardy and exceptional men now and then risked or lost their lives by venturing into such unknown regions, but it was not till the craft of climbing was invented that it became possible to traverse glacial areas with a certainty and safety not less than that which accompanies travellers by sea. The crossing of great deserts, again, must have been impossible for primeval man. To discover and tame the 66 ship of the desert," to explore for waterstations, and thus to find and make traversable routes, must have involved the labour of generations of nomads. A European traveller, who, without the requisite knowledge and experience of the desert craft, should attempt to cross the great Dahna of 000 I II.

III.

THE "BOWLINE KNOT" FOR MAKING A LOOP AT THE END OF A ROPE.

Fig. I. shows the method of making the knot; Fig. II. shows the knot complete, and Fig. III. shows it drawn tight, with a half-hitch added to prevent it working loose.

Arabia, would assuredly perish by the way.

To penetrate forests, too, required at one time exceptional experience, and similarly w was it with large swampy areas and other special regions of the earth's surface. Thus MOUNTAINEERING] it is proved that geographical exploration has called into existence various crafts of travel. We are only concerned with one of these, the latest born-the climber's craft.

The thoughtless reader will perhaps be inclined to pronounce it offhand the most useless of all the crafts for getting about. "Useless" is a presumptive word. High regions have their scientific secrets to yield up; they have their beauties, too, for the lover of nature; they may hereafter prove to possess economical importance. It is more than probable that gold will some day be found at high altitudes in the Karakoram Mountains. When it is found it will be worked, for there are no insurmountable difficulties to prevent such working. The question, to men equipped with a knowledge of the mountain craft, is merely one of organisation. The invention of the climber's craft is of recent date. It did not exist in A A II 1.

B B THE "FISHERMAN'S BEND," FOR JOINING TWO ROPES TOGETHER. Fig. I. shows the knot made on rope A, with rope B passed through it.

Fig. II. shows the knot complete. the year 1850; it was fairly advanced by 1870; it is not yet completed. The coming generation of climbers and mountain explorers will carry it further. Before men came to attempt systematic mountaineering, the vague dread that hung over the regions of everlasting snow had to be removed.

In ancient days there existed, and even now amongst backward peoples there exists, a belief that all the extraordinary and (to them) inexplicable actions of nature are produced by violent and evil spirits. The storms that suddenly rage over the Mesopotamian plain seemed to the ancient Chaldeans to be the passing of Ginn. The people of that strange and inhospitable land, Tibet, imagine themselves to be surrounded by invisible fiends of all sorts, eager to destroy them, and they take all manner of magic precautions to counteract the machinations of the devils. The tribes of the Hindu Kush believe the regions of perpetual snow to be the home of fairies who drive men mad. Such ideas were the foundation of the belief, lingering till recently in the Alps, that there were dragons of the hills-horrible in the recesses creatures that haunted the regions of snow, and sometimes appeared to belated woodmen in the upper margins of the forests. I.

II.

A A A A B B B THE "MIDDLEMAN NOOSE" FOR MAKING A LOOP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROPE.

Fig. I. shows the loop made first in the middle of the rope, forming the first knot A', and the loop AB.

Fig. II. shows the similar loop and knot B', made on the free side of B (Fig. I.), giving the loop AB (Fig. II.), which is drawn tight round the waist and secured by the knot A'.

Even after the dragons were gone, the Alpine folk believed, and perhaps some of them still continue to believe, that snowfields and high rock peaks are the home of demons and the spirits of the damned.

Such dwell even to-day amongst the crags of the Matterhorn, and to keep them from invading the Zermatt Valley there still stands the Chapel of the Black Lake, which they dare not pass, and whither annually a pilgrimage is made to celebrate mass at the altar and renew the power of the charm.

The mysterious dread of the hills which found such, amongst other, expressions had to be destroyed in the minds of sensible men before systematic mountain exploration could take place. The passes of the Alps, indeed, were crossed by regular routes in the most ancient times; but it was necessity alone that drove men over them.

A I.

A B A II.

B B THE "FIGURE OF EIGHT" TIE FOR JOINING TWO ROPES TOGETHER.

Fig. I. shows the first half of the knot made.

Fig. II. shows the knot completed.

There was a prehistoric trade route, along which the Etruscans journeyed to exchange their bronze wares for the amber of the Baltic; and there was a contemporary pass into Gaul, perhaps the Great St. Bernard, the mediæval history of which is complete.

The Brenner was the pass of the Emperors throughout the middle ages. The Great St.

Bernard was most frequently traversed by pilgrims, or "roamers," from the west of Europe. The pagan altar of Pennine Jove was at an early day supplanted by a Christian hospice, which, frequently rebuilt, and famous for its dogs, continues to the present time. We have some curious accounts of passages across it: for instance, [MOUNTAINEERING set your foot safely; where, strange to say, although it is so slippery that you cannot stand, the death (into which there is every facility for a fall) is certain death. I put my hand in my scrip that I might scratch out a syllable or two to your sincerity; lo!

I found my ink-bottle filled with a dry mass of ice; my fingers, too, refused to write, my beard was stiff with frost, and my breath congealed into a long icicle. I could not write the news I wished." Clearly, the day THE PASSAGE OF AN ICE FALL. GORNER GLACIER, ZERMATT. that of Abbot Rudolf of St. Trond, in December, 1128, or that of John de Bremble, a monk of Christ Church, Canterbury, in February, 1188, both of which may be read in Coolidge's Swiss Travel. A translation of part of the latter account, given by Bishop Stubbs in his Lectures on the Study of Medieval and Modern History, is brief enough to be quoted entire. "Pardon me for not writing. I have been on the Mount of Jove; on the one hand looking up to the heavens of the mountains, on the other shuddering at the hell of the valleys, feeling myself so much nearer heaven that I was more sure that my prayer would be heard. 'Lord,' I said, 'restore me to my brethren, that I may tell them that they come not into this place of torment.' Place of torment indeed, where the marble pavement of the stony ground is ice alone, and you cannot for mountain exploration had not come in the twelfth century! When passes were regarded with such dread, peaks were not likely to be approached. They had an even more uncanny reputation. Was not Pilate buried in a pond on the top of Pilatus? and did not the devils dance and howl around the place? Nevertheless, now and again some curious person was led to visit the summit of a peak. Trajan climbed Etna to see the sunrise. In the eleventh century an attempt was made to reach the top of the Roche Melon (11,600 feet) near Susa, and it was actually climbed and a chapel built on the peak in 1358. In the last quarter of the thirteenth century, Peter III. of Aragon climbed Canigou in the Pyrenees.

Sir Frederick Pollock tells us how Peter took with him two knights of his companions whom he loved, and, having MOUNTAINEERING] equipped themselves with provisions and fitting instruments (congruentibus armispossibly alpenstocks), they set forth." They encountered a thunderstorm, and "the two knights began to fail in such wise that for exceeding weariness and for fear of the thunder they could scarce breathe!" Peter, therefore, like Mr. Bryce on Ararat, completed the ascent alone. When he came down, he told his companions how he had found a lake on the summit and cast a stone into it, whereupon there came forth a great and terrible dragon which flew away, breathing out a vapour which darkened the air. Moreover, he gave them leave to repeat the story as much as they pleased. We may suppose that he had accurately measured their credulity.

In 1339, Petrarch climbed Mont Ventoux, near Vaucluse, "to see what the top of a hill was like"; and, in 1492, Charles VIII. of France sent one of his chamberlains with a party up the remarkable Mount Aiguille, and they, too, built a chapel or altar on the top-an indication that they thought the place decidedly uncanny. With the sixteenth century, a new spirit overspread the intelligent classes of Europe; the Humanists manifested its effect in their changed attitude towards mountains. If it had not been for the blight cast over intellectual progress by the religious differences and wars resulting from them, the seventeenth century would probably have seen mountaineering in full swing, and would have witnessed the completed exploration of the Alps. Leonardo da Vinci was perhaps the first in this, as in so many other matters, to manifest the new tendencies. He appears to have climbed high up to the south side of Monte Rosa, and to have reached the level of the snow-fields. He remarked nothing about dragons or devils, but made accurate observations on the state of the snow and its peculiar hail-like granulation.

The philosophers of Zurich, especially Conrad Gesner and Josias Simler, paid in the middle of the century great attention to mountains. Gesner was a genuine mountaineer in spirit, and wrote in praise of climbing for its own sake. Simler published a very interesting book on the Alps, which is still well worth reading, and in it he gave practical advice as to the use of the rope and other precautions to be observed when going above the snow-line. It is with these climbers of the sixteenth century Zurich school that the craft of climbing may be said to have originated. In the seventeenth century, however, nothing was done. The people of Europe were too busy with their wars and squabbles. Ordinary THE TATE LIBRARY, BRIXTON, S.W. travellers and "grand" tourists continued to think that the mountains were but hideous excrescences, and that all natural beauty resided in plains. Traces of this idea may be found so late as Sir Walter Scott, for instance, in Anne of Geierstein. The reaction against this point of view was brought about partly by men of science, to whom glaciers became an interesting sub- TESTING A DECEPTIVE SUMMIT CORNICE. ject, first of speculation, afterwards of study, partly by the romancists, headed by Rousseau, for whom admiration of mountains was in harmony with their general attitude of revolt against accepted dogmas.

If a date were required to mark the commencement of this new period, perhaps the year 1739 would be the best, for in it the first snow mountain was climbed-the Titlis. Pococke and Windham's visit to Chamonix followed, in 1741. They went there from Geneva out of pure curiosity to see what Mont Blanc looked like from near at hand, and they climbed to the Montenvers and looked at the Mer de Glace. The first recorded attempt to reach the summit of Mont Blanc was made by a party of socalled guides in 1775. They are believed to have ascended as high as the Grand