coming the centre of such vast and ever-extending interests. With that we have no concern; we have been looking to facts. No doubt our people have been influenced by mixed motives in the development of this unique power, and have but followed the general laws by which the human race has been led forward in the process of its education. No one would assert that the empire so won, so expanded, so retained, has been an unmixed blessing to mankind; nor are we wholly competent judges on such a question; but that we may at least claim some credit for humanising and civilising the various races under our dominion must, one would think, be generally admitted. May we not claim something more? Not long ago, when the question of decisive action on the part of England as against the outrageous claims put forth by M. Ignatieff for Russia was before the country, the following words were spoken by Mr. Roebuck in an address to his constituents; and we are disposed to think they are not inappropriate to the subject in hand:

'England has led the world onward in the course of improvement. Whatever good has been done for mankind you will find the finger of England in the doing of it. She has taught mankind their rights. She has taught men to feel towards each other as men should feel. She has turned Europe from a den of slaves into a great band of freemen. That is the present state of Europe. That is owing to England.'*

Is this rhetoric? Is this Chauvinism? The world must judge; future generations must decide. At any rate it may be held capable of proof that this empire has rather come to us than been sought as an object of ambition. It has been the natural result of the extension of trade and emigration, and the defence of our traders and emigrants. The defence of our possessions has, indeed, been often indirect, but still, when most indirect, none the less defence; for the reputation of a readiness to defend, a readiness promptly evinced when occasion calls, is the only safeguard from attack; and the defence of a distant possession is often only possible in regions close at hand. Thus, with a true instinct, no country has more steadily supported the principles of International Law than Great Britain, none more vigorously the independence of nations; none has made greater sacrifices to restrain high-handed attempts to destroy that independence. In so doing she has defended the interests of all while protecting her own. In so doing the Imperial position has been justified in the past, and by such action alone can it be justified in the future.

*Speech at Sheffield, June 17, 1878.

Considerations

Considerations like these convey more than a hint that this position has not been conferred upon Great Britain by accident, that it involves the most tremendous responsibilities, and may yet require the greatest sacrifices. It is not surprising that even now, at this advanced stage of our progress, the nation occasionally displays a momentary incapacity for understanding that it is the centre of enormous dominions involving us in political complications, different not only in degree but in kind from those to which we were liable when our possessions stretched little beyond the coasts of Great Britain. It is not surprising that on such occasions even the sacred name of religion is taken in vain by protests in the so-called interests of peace against measures which alone are capable of preserving peace. We must be patient. It is not given to all men to realise even the most absolute facts. The growth of the empire, though vast, has been during the last three generations almost insensible, and problems of defence and government must often arise for which the precedents of the past afford no sufficient guidance. But it is absurd to ignore what we cannot deny to exist, idle to wish we were unpledged before the world to the responsibilities we have been forced to assume, monstrous to entertain the idea of receding from a position which, indeed, has in all probability still greater issues before it. The general circumstances of that position, and the method by which it has been attained, we may contemplate with honest pride, and yet without vainglory; and the contemplation is wholesome, for it is a steadfast gaze at the truth, and mans us to face the future with faith, courage, and active intelligence.

ART. III.-Thirteen Years among the Wild Beasts of India : their Haunts and Habits, from personal observation; with an account of the modes of Capturing and Taming Elephants. By G. P. Sanderson, Officer in charge of the Government Elephantcatching Establishment in Mysore. London, 1878.

A REALLY good book on wild beasts is very seldom met

with. There are stay-at-home naturalists who study the animals at the Zoological Gardens, and the distorted forms of the hay-distended creatures at the British Museum: such writers compile books on natural history by gleaning anecdotes from the numerous sporting works of Indian and African authors, but all such attempts at description must be necessarily flat and unsubstantial: they lack the spirit and originality of the active hunter and naturalist, and they are untrustworthy.

There

There is another class of sporting books more interesting, but nevertheless unsatisfactory. England is a nation of hunters, and our youth is full of vigour and adventure. The vast improvement in rifles and the general extension of rifle practice, induces all those who can afford the means, to visit wild countries for the sake of larger game than the red-deer of our Scottish forests. India offers a wide field of adventure; also Africa, America, Ceylon; and in fact there are few corners of the world attainable by the sportsman that are not penetrated by the British enthusiast.

Such daring hunters make special expeditions, and usually return to England after their foreign excursions, and write books. With some exceptions such narratives are tedious: the experience of the authors has been limited, and they cannot be accepted as authorities on natural history; their books are journals of slaughter which often offend the susceptibilities of their readers. Men who start from England for a shooting trip may be excellent shots, good sportsmen, and fluent writers, but their narration of facts must be confined to a comparatively narrow area; they kill as many animals as possible within a certain interval of time, but they cannot have acquired sufficient knowledge of the natures of their game to enable them to write sporting works as valuable additions to literature.

The veteran hunter of wild animals must confess that he is always learning something new in his practical study of nature. It is a mistake to suppose that all animals of a certain class are the same in instinctive capacity: individuals possess their peculiar endowments precisely as human beings vary in intellectual power. We see daily the various degrees of intelligence as displayed among dogs; thus, when we consider the difficulty attendant upon the study of wild animals in their native pastures, we may at once agree that a limited experience must be of little value to the lover of natural history. The book we require as a standard authority must be the result of many years' practical study, and intimate association with the animals described. It is impossible that one man can have had experience sufficient to embrace all portions of the world, and the fault of many writers consists in their attempting too much. If an individual will confine his description to that particular branch of sport and natural history which he has carefully mastered, neglect all hearsay evidence, and relate only that which he has positively accomplished and personally witnessed, his book will be received as a welcome exception to the general rule.

The work now before us, 'Thirteen Years among the Wild Beasts

Beasts of India,' is a most valuable contribution to works upon natural history. Especially may the author be accepted as one of the highest practical authorities upon all that concerns the elephant. There is perhaps no animal that interests mankind more deeply than this huge and sagacious creature. We find it depicted on the coinage of ancient Carthage; and by the peculiar formation of the African species we know that both that and the Indian variety were introduced into Northern Africa and Europe. How the African elephant was led across the great Sahara we cannot conceive; and we must believe that in bygone ages this animal existed along the north-western coasts of that continent, and was captured and brought to Carthage by way of Morocco. The presence of the elephant domesticated at that date, proves the great extension of geographical knowledge since the more remote biblical era. In the Old Testament there is no mention made of such an animal, neither is there a drawing upon the Egyptian temples that would denote their acquaintance with the elephant; and yet we hear of ivory having been brought to Solomon!

Although the elephant has attracted the special attention of many writers, there are few accounts that can be relied upon, for the simple reason that the animal has been seldom studied at the same time in both its wild and domesticated condition.

The author of the new work now before us, Mr. G. P. Sanderson, has been engaged for some years, and is still employed, in catching and taming the wild elephants of India for the Imperial Government. He went to Madras in 1864, and was appointed Assistant Channel Superintendent upon the irrigation works of Mysore. His headquarters were Hoonsoor, twenty-eight miles from the capital, and his employment is thus tersely explained: 'My work consisted in looking after about 150 miles of river-drawn irrigation channels, all of them works of antiquity. To a young enthusiastic sportsman such a position afforded every opportunity for developing his tastes. At the end of 1868 he was advanced to the head of the department in that district, and acquired the charge of 716 miles of water channels.

for

The city of Mysore became my headquarters. I had a large extent of country, including several fine jungles, in addition to my old haunts, to travel over in the prosecution of my work. I had a sufficient salary to afford a good battery, and the money necessary getting good sport; and I spent most of my leave and all my cash upon it. In 1873 an opportunity was afforded me of changing what had hitherto been my favourite recreation only-sport-into the business of my life. I had before this time shot all the kinds of

large

large game found in the Mysore country, and had become familiar with jungle matters. I had been especially interested in noting the habits of wild elephants; and upon my repeated representations, aided by the support of an official of high standing—a thorough sportsman, and able to form an accurate opinion on my proposals— the Mysore Government was induced to undertake the capture of some of the herds which roamed, useless and destructive, through various parts of the province, and I was appointed to carry out the experiment.

I succeeded, as I shall hereafter relate, in capturing a large number of elephants, and in consequence was appointed to the temporary charge of the Bengal Elephant-catching Establishment, in September 1875. I worked in Bengal for nine months, during which time I visited the Garrow and Chittagong hill tracts, wild and little-known regions. I returned to Mysore in June 1876, after capturing eighty-five elephants in Chittagong.'

This concise programme introduces the author to his readers as a man already experienced by some years' practice with the wild game of India, about to undertake the exciting and interesting duty, not of slaying and exterminating, but of capturing and training to industrial purposes the true king of beasts, the elephant. Painfully mindful of the doubt attached to 'travellers' tales,' he prefaces his descriptions with these remarks: 'I claim one merit for my jottings, which I hope will cover their numerous failings at least in the eyes of brother sportsmen—and that is, that they are all strictly true.' We cordially accept this declaration, and shall give every credit to the author's innocence of exaggeration.

The second chapter gives an interesting description of the Mysore country, followed by much useful information respecting the productions of the country, which prove that Mr. Sanderson is not simply a sportsman, but that he has taken pains to study the interesting subject of development.

The third chapter introduces us to the Mysore jungles,' and the author commences his description with the young grass after

'the first showers in April, which by July has attained the height of a man. . . . This season is the time par excellence for stalking and shooting large game. The animals are intent on the new supply of fodder; occasional rain makes tracking easy; and after May the sky is usually obscured by clouds and driving mists in the hills, and considerable exertion may be undergone without discomfort.'

To a sportsman the information respecting seasons is absolutely essential, and many works on wild animals are sadly deficient in affording the necessary data for the hunter travelling