Chapter X: Y. Z (7)

The United Service Steeplechase of 150 sovs.; two miles.
Mr. C. Bewicke’s b. g. Glamore, by Eglamour, dam’s
ped. unknown, aged, 12st. 7lb. Owner 1
Mr. C. Bewicke’s br. c. John Shark, 4 yrs., 10st. Capt.
7lb. Stacpoole 2
Mr. Hugh Ashton’s ch. g. Sanctimonious, 5 yrs., 12st. Mr.
Forsythe 3
7 to 4 agst. Glamore.

NATIONAL HUNT AND WARWICK.

March 8th.—The National Hunt Steeplechase of 1,000 sovs.;
four miles and about 150 yards.
Mr. W. Charter’s ch. g. Count Rufus, by Wise Count, Mr. A.
dam by Arraby, aged, 12st. 3lb. Gordon 1
Mr. C. W. Wadsworth’s b. h. Port Light II., aged, Hon. A.
12st. 3lb. Hastings 2
Capt. James Foster’s ch. h. Lara, 5yrs., 11st. 8lb. Capt. R. H.
Collis 3
25 to 1 agst. Count Rufus.

The National Hunt Juvenile Steeplechase of 500 sovs.; for
maiden four-year-olds; 11st. 7lb. each; two miles and a
quarter.
Mr. B. W. Parr’s ch. f. Nanoya, by Winkfield—Elissa Mr. H.
Persse 1
Mr. J. Chamberlin’s br. c. English Oak Mr. Watson 2
Mr. Owen J. Williams’ ch. f. Irish Poplin Mr.
Fergusson 3
7 to 1 agst. Nanoya.

The Warwick Handicap Steeplechase of 200 sovs.; two miles
and three-quarters.
Mr. F. Bibby’s b. g. Comfit, by Butterscotch, dam by
Clanronald—K.T., aged, 12st. F. Mason 1
Sir Peter Walker’s br. g. Royal Drake, aged, 11st.
11lb. E. Sullivan 2
Lord Howard de Walden’s b. g. Centre Board, 6 yrs.,
11st. 11lb. J. Cain 3
6 to 4 agst. Comfit.

HURST PARK.

March 10th.—The New Century Steeplechase of 437 sovs,;
two miles.
Mr. C. T. Garland’s br. g. Oatlands, by
Waterford—Blanche Nef, 6 yrs., 12st. H. Aylin 1
Mr. T. Clyde’s br. g. Sachem, 5 yrs., 12st. J. O’Brien 2
Sir Henry Randall’s b. or br. c. Frisky Bill, 4yrs., Mr.
10st. Rollason 3
100 to 7 agst. Oatlands.

RACQUETS.

March 9th.—At Prince’s Club, the Military Championship Doubles; 2nd
Batt. Highland Light Infantry (Lieut. H. Balfour-Bryant, M.V.O.,
and Lieut. P. Bramwell-Davies, the holders) beat 4th. Batt. King’s
Royal Rifles (Major S. F. Mott and Lieut. G. T. Lee) by four games
to one.

March 17th.—At Prince’s Club, the Military Championship Singles:
Major S. H. Sheppard, D.S.O. (Royal Engineers), beat Lieut. H.
Balfour-Bryant, M.V.O. (2nd Batt. Highland Light Infantry), the
holder, by three games to two.

COURSING.

February 23rd.—The Waterloo Cup, Mr. H. Hardy’s f. d. Hoprend, by
Forgotten Fashion—Heirloom, beat Mr. S. S. Death’s w. bk. d.
Dividend Deferred, by Grampus—Dark Dame.

February 23rd.—The Waterloo Purse, Mr. R. J. Hannam nom. (Mr. A.
Forster’s) f. b. Formula, by Pateley Bridge—Forest Fairy, and Mr.
W. Ward nom. (Mr. T. Graham’s) Game ’Un, by Tara—Glenvera,
divided.

February 23rd.—The Waterloo Plate, Mr. H. Birkbeck’s bd. b.
Neolithic, by Father Flint—Filagree, and Mr. R. H. Whitworth nom.
(Mr. H. Hardy’s) bd. d. p. Howtown, by Father Flint—Heirloom,
divided.

FOOTBALL.

February 17th.—At Queen’s Club, Oxford v. Cambridge, latter won by 3
goals to 1.†

February 17th.—At Belfast, Ireland v. England, latter won by 5 goals
to 0.†

February 24th.—At Dublin, Ireland v. Scotland, latter won by 13
points to 6.*

March 3rd.—At Edinburgh, Scotland v. Wales, latter won by 2 goals to
0.†

March 3rd.—At Aldershot, Corinthians v. Army, drawn, 1 goal each.†

March 7th.—At Oxford, the University v. United Services, former won
by 5 goals 3 points to 1 goal 1 try.*

March 10th.—At Queen’s Club, Royal Navy v. The Army, Army won by 5
goals to 2.†

March 10th.—At Belfast, Ireland v. Wales, former won by 8 points to
3.*

March 10th.—At Exeter, Devon v. Durham (County Championship final),
former won by 11 points to 0.*

* Under Rugby Rules.

† Under Association Rules.

-----

Footnote 8:

“Modern Dogs (Sporting Division).” Two Volumes. Third Edition. By
Rawdon B. Lee. (Horace Cox.)

Footnote 9:

“The Country Cottage.” By Geo. H. Morris and Esther Wood. 3s. (John
Lane.)

Footnote 10:

“The Complete Bridge Player.” By “Cut Cavendish.” Fifth Edition. (T.
Werner Laurie, Clifford’s Inn, Fleet Street, E.C.)

Footnote 11:

“Through Race Glasses.” By F. E. Vincent, 1s. (T. Werner Laurie.)

Footnote 12:

Endocia by Philammon—Lady Superior by Thunderbolt.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

BAILY’S MAGAZINE

OF

SPORTS AND PASTIMES.

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ DIARY FOR MAY, 1906. │ ├──────┬─────┬────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │Day of│ Day │ OCCURRENCES. │ │Month.│ of │ │ │ │Week.│ │ ├──────┼─────┼────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ 1│ TU │Newmarket First Spring, Worcester and United Hunt │ │ │ │ (Lingfield) Races. │ │ 2│ W │Two Thousand Guineas, Worcester and Hexham Races. │ │ 3│ TH │Newmarket, Hexham, Thirsk, Isle of Wight, and Newport │ │ │ │ (Mon.) Races. │ │ 4│ F │One Thousand Guineas, Thirsk, Isle of Wight and Newport │ │ │ │ (Mon.) Races. │ │ 5│ S │Windsor Races. │ │ │ │ │ │ 6│ =S= │=Third Sunday after Easter.= │ │ 7│ M │Folkestone, Shirley Hunt and Pershore Races. │ │ 8│ TU │Chester, Aldershot and Pershore Races. │ │ 9│ W │Chester Cup, Aldershot, Newton Abbot and Shincliffe │ │ │ │ Races. │ │ 10│ TH │Chester and Newton Abbot Races. │ │ 11│ F │Kempton Park, Ripon and Keele Park Races. │ │ 12│ S │Kempton Park (Great Jubilee Stakes), Ripon and Keele │ │ │ │ Park Races. │ │ │ │ │ │ 13│ =S= │=Fourth Sunday after Easter.= │ │ 14│ M │Southwell and Wye Races. │ │ 15│ TU │Newmarket Second Spring and Southwell Races. │ │ 16│ W │Newmarket Stakes and West Somerset (Crewkerne) Races. │ │ 17│ TH │Newmarket and West Somerset Races. │ │ 18│ F │Gatwick, Haydock Park and Hamilton Park Races. │ │ 19│ S │Gatwick, Haydock Park and Hamilton Park Races. │ │ │ │ │ │ 20│ =S= │=Rogation Sunday.= │ │ 21│ M │Nottingham Hunt Races. │ │ 22│ TU │York and Bath Races. │ │ 23│ W │York and Bath Races. │ │ 24│ TH │Doncaster, Salisbury and Hamilton Park Races. │ │ 25│ F │Doncaster and Salisbury Races. │ │ 26│ S │Harpenden Races. │ │ │ │ │ │ 27│ =S= │=Sunday after Ascension.= │ │ 28│ M │Southwell Races. │ │ 29│ TU │Epsom Races. │ │ 30│ W │The Derby. │ │ 31│ TH │Epsom Races. │ └──────┴─────┴────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

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]

BAILY’S MAGAZINE
OF
SPORTS AND PASTIMES
NO. 555. MAY, 1906. VOL. LXXXV.

CONTENTS.

PAGE Sporting Diary for the Month v. Mr. Assheton Biddulph, M.F.H. 343 Englishmen’s Sport in Future Years 346 A Plea for the Hare 350 Pelota 353 Jack Shepherd (Illustrated) 357 The Preparatory School 358 The Late Mr. John R. Gubbins (Illustrated) 362 Dressing Flies 367 Navicular Disease (Illustrated) 369 The Beech as a Commercial Tree (Illustrated) 375 The Hermit Family 377 Sport at the Universities 381 Foxhunting in France (Illustrated) 385 South African Policy of the Marylebone Cricket Ministry 387 Some Fables on Horses 391 The Advent of the Otter-hunting Season (Illustrated) 397 A Hundred Years Ago 398 The Sportsman’s Library (Illustrated) 399 Polo in 1906 402 “Our Van”:— Racing (Illustrated) 405 French Racing 410 Hunting 412 Some Spring Productions at the Theatres 415 Golf 419 Sporting Intelligence 420

WITH ENGRAVED PORTRAIT OF MR. ASSHETON BIDDULPH, M.F.H.

Mr. Assheton Biddulph, M.F.H.

Mr. Assheton Biddulph, Master of the King’s County Hounds, whose portrait we give in this number, was born in the year 1850. He is the second surviving son of the late Francis M. W. Biddulph, of Rathrobin, in the King’s County, now the residence of the Master’s elder brother, Lieutenant-Colonel M. W. Biddulph, late 5th Fusiliers.

Mr. Francis Biddulph, from whom his son inherits his love of hunting, was a well-known sportsman in his day. The late Mr. O’Connor Morris, in his book “Memini,” remarks that he was “one who knew as much as most men about horses of all sorts, hounds, hunting, racing, &c.; in fact, he was an encyclopædia of sport, and could ride to perfection.”

There are not now living many who remember the sad period, sixty years ago, when Ireland was devastated by famine. Speaking of this time, an old hunting man, long since gone to his rest, said to the writer, “I never made such preparation for hunting as I did that year, but before a third of the season was over there was scarcely a pack of hounds in Ireland.” Hunting was only kept going in the King’s County by some energetic gentlemen, as the country began to recover, keeping small private packs and hunting in their own neighbourhood. Of these Mr. Biddulph was one. He was at the same time a staunch patron of the Turf, and owned many good racehorses. It was thus with his father’s pack the present Master was entered to hounds.

In 1869 Mr. Assheton Biddulph was gazetted to the 57th Regiment, the old “Diehards” (now 1st Battalion Middlesex), with which he was stationed for some time in Devonport, where, whenever free from duty, he devoted his spare time to the chase of fox, deer, and otter. Here, too, he made the acquaintance of Squire Trelawney and Mr. Jack Russell, the sporting parson. The regiment afterwards moved to Ireland, and thus gave him the opportunity of again hunting in his native country. In 1873, the battalion being about to proceed to Ceylon, and the outlook seeming to offer but little opportunity of active service, Mr. Biddulph sent in his papers, and began devoting his energies to his favourite sport. For two or three seasons he hunted principally in Galway as the guest of the famous Burton Persse, of whom he always speaks as his principal tutor in the art. At the same time he confesses to dipping stealthily into authorship; as “Vagrant” he used regularly to write hunting sketches in the _Irish Sportsman_ for his old pedagogue, W. J. Dunbar.

Previous to this the late Earl of Huntingdon, then Lord Hastings, had undertaken the task of reviving sport in the district, and hunted both the original King’s County and also the country now occupied by the Ormond Hunt, in Tipperary, till the year 1876. The countries were then separated, the latter being taken over by Mr. W. T. Trench. They were, however, again united in 1879 under Lord Huntingdon, an arrangement which lasted till 1882; and during this period Lord Huntingdon received the greatest assistance from Mr. Biddulph, who acted as both hunt secretary and first whipper-in.

In the beginning of the season 1881–82 political troubles stopped hunting in the district; the hounds were sold, the country was broken up and left derelict for two seasons. In 1884 Mr. Assheton Biddulph faced all obstacles, and, with hardly a fox left in the country, finding hounds, horses, and everything for himself, started to resuscitate the fortunes of the Ormond and King’s County Hunt.

Those who know Ireland understand how difficult it is to keep clear of politics in that country. Mr. Biddulph, however, determined from the first to avoid contentions, and the wisdom of this resolution, though not wholly approved by those with whom he was most strongly in sympathy, has been fully proved by his success. Thus for thirteen years he hunted the great district occupied by both hunts, until in 1897 the countries were again separated, the Ormond being taken over by the present Earl of Huntingdon. Mr. Assheton Biddulph’s success during this period is best testified by the following resolution, passed at the annual meeting of the Hunt on May 5th, 1895:—

“That his many friends and the members of the Hunt accord a cordial vote of thanks to Mr. Assheton Biddulph for his unceasing zeal and untiring energy during his past eleven seasons of mastership, and that they take this public opportunity to express a deep sense of their appreciation of the grand pack of hounds he has bred in the country, the able manner he has managed and hunted them, the fine sport he has shown, the tact with which he has in troublous times overcome many and various difficulties, thus raising to a high position amongst the Hunts of Ireland the standard of the Ormond and King’s County Hunt, over which they sincerely hope he may be spared to preside for many years to come.”

In 1898, on the division of the country and on the occasion of the Annual Puppy Show at Monyguyneen, Mr. and Mrs. Biddulph were the recipients of a very valuable presentation of plate, accompanied by the following address in an illuminated album, which also contains the signatures of about three hundred subscribers, members of every class in the country:

“Your numerous friends in the King’s and adjoining counties in recognition of the lengthened period during which you have hunted the country at very considerable expense, and kept up sport in trying and difficult times when it was abandoned in so many other places, beg your acceptance of the accompanying pieces of plate, and trust that the inscription which they bear (embracing Mrs. Biddulph’s name as well as your own) will show how thoroughly we appreciate the admirable manner in which she has always seconded your efforts to popularise sport by her constant presence and prowess in the field. It will also, we feel assured, gratify you to know that this testimonial has been subscribed to over a very large area, and we all most heartily and warmly unite in hoping that you and Mrs. Biddulph will be spared for many years to maintain the best traditions of the hunt over which you so well preside.”

Since that time Mr. Biddulph has added to the King’s County a large portion of the Queen’s County, which was unoccupied, hunting three days a week with a splendid pack of hounds bred by himself from the best blood in the kingdom. Many of his fine stud of hunters are also home-bred. Among the latter must be mentioned Billy Boy, a gallant grey who carried his master for thirteen seasons. Never was a horse so well known over so large a district. Latterly Mr. Biddulph had given him to his children to ride, and he often carried the Master’s eldest daughter, Miss Kathleen Biddulph.

During all the years he carried Mr. Biddulph any place Billy Boy and his master did not get over or force a passage through no one else attempted. In the dining-room at Monyguyneen hangs a fine oil painting, by Lynwood Palmer, of the Master on Billy Boy, while Mrs. Biddulph, in the same picture, is portrayed on her own favourite of so many years, “Noirine,” now a pensioner, and half sister to Billy Boy.

Outside his own district Mr. Biddulph takes great interest in all hunting matters; he was the originator of puppy shows in Ireland, the first having been held at Monyguyneen in 1887. He was also one of the originators of the Irish Hound Show, at first intended to be held in Mullingar, but the scene of which, in consequence of difficulties, was changed to Clonmel, where it is still held. In his spare time he is a keen angler. He is fond of shooting over dogs, which he always trains himself, but does not care for the modern systems of shooting. A noted walker, no day is too long nor hillside too difficult.

Besides personally looking after all details of his kennel and management of his pack, which he, of course, hunts himself, Mr. Biddulph manages a large farm, from the produce of which the stable is principally supplied.

The family descends from the ancient one of the same name in Staffordshire, which is derived from one Ormus le Guidon, Lord of Darlaveston, Buckinghall, Biddulph, &c., who lived in the time of “Doomsday,” as mentioned by Erdeswick in his history of Staffordshire.

Mr. Biddulph married in 1880 Florence Caroline, younger daughter of the late Rev. Cunningham Boothby, of Holwell Rectory, Burford, Oxon. Mrs. Biddulph is as well known in the hunting-field as the Master himself. The family sporting traditions are carried on by their son, now a boy at Harrow, who must inherit the sporting instinct, descended as he is on his mother’s side from Thomas Boothby, who, as history records, was in the eighteenth century the first man to keep hounds for the purpose of hunting foxes only. Thomas Boothby’s horn is at present preserved as a treasured heirloom in the Corbet family, of Cheshire, into whose possession it passed through intermarriage. We should add that Mr. Biddulph is the second oldest Master in Ireland, having carried the horn for twenty-two seasons.

Englishmen’s Sport in Future Years.

It is an almost universally acknowledged fact that the passion for sport in its wildest and least artificial forms, which is inherent in the Anglo-Saxon race, has contributed not a little towards putting that race in the position which it now occupies in the world. It is the love of sport which makes it possible for Englishmen of good birth to endure long years of exile in the wilderness while doing the empire’s work, without suffering that mental, moral and physical deterioration which is so painfully apparent in men of Latin race in tropical Africa and America. It is the influence of sport, to which he is bound not only by individual taste but by the ties of heredity and tradition, which brings the English gentleman to the fore in any enterprise requiring nerve, independence, resolution and stamina, a cool head and a strong hand. It is the sportsman’s training which has made British officers the best officers in the world.

The question occurs to one, what will future generations do for their sport? If the British empire is to maintain her place and fulfil her destiny, it is absolutely necessary that the young men of the upper and upper-middle classes should have that sportsman’s training which is now happily within reach of most of them. The sports which are probably the most useful in the mental, moral and physical training which they give are hunting, the pursuit of large game, and in a lesser degree game shooting in the British Isles. And these three sports are all in danger, if not of extinction, at any rate of eventual restriction to the few and the rich.

It is obvious that other sports and games have their uses in the training of the youth of the nation, and most of them are likely to flourish as long as Britons remain Britons. Racing, for instance, was probably never more prosperous than now in England and Australia, and the sport has taken a good hold in South Africa; the class of horses run was never better, and the standard of turf morality, low as it undoubtedly is, shows signs of eventual improvement under the stern hand of the Jockey Club. And while it may be doubted whether “following the meetings” does a young man much good, except in so far as it teaches him which is the most foolish way of spending his money, yet, if he goes racing regularly and be not quite an idiot, he must pick up some little knowledge of horse-flesh and of mankind.

Polo is altogether admirable so far as it goes. It calls for nearly all the qualities which we are wont to approve of in our fellow countrymen. But it is too expensive an amusement and too limited as to the number of men who can join in it to be really useful as a training school. Cricket, football and rowing are very well in their way, but they are games as opposed to sports, and do not from their nature appeal to the wild pagan instincts which we have inherited from our Saxon, Norse, and Briton forefathers.

Foxhunting and the chase of the wild red deer undoubtedly head the list of British sports. But how long will they continue in their present state? The growth of London and other large towns is pushing hunting further and further away. The increase of population and the growing wealth of the middle class is dotting the countryside with villas, “week-end residences” (odious phrase), and fruit and flower farms. Much of the South of England which a generation ago was good wild hunting country is now completely spoilt, from that point of view, by bricks and mortar. Foreign competition and the lack of agricultural labour are forcing the farmer to practise the strictest economy and to fence his land with barbed wire. The leasing of shootings to rich men from the towns tends to make fox-hunting a less natural and more artificial sport every year, and to limit its scope. Every year more men and women want to hunt, and ought to hunt, and every year there is less room for them. A melancholy sign of the times is apparent in the number of masters of hounds who find “the game not worth the candle,” and resign. It appears that fox-hunting in a generation or two will be an amusement for the rich only, and for comparatively few of them, and it can never again be the glorious, wild, unartificial sport which our forefathers enjoyed.

Numbers of men find healthy and wholesome amusement in shooting; but shooting under the influence of the plutocrat has become terribly artificial, and its conditions are too carefully “cut and dried.”

To find true wild pagan sport, such sport as stirs the blood and brings to the top the hardiest and manliest instincts in human nature, one must go to the hills of Northern India or the wildernesses of tropical Africa. And even in these areas, vast as they are, the wild game is quickly disappearing. Much of the best shooting ground in Kashmire is “shot out,” and nothing short of very drastic remedies can enable the game to live in its original haunts. In South Africa the vast herds of antelope, the elephants and rhinoceros, which roamed at will in the highlands of the Transvaal and the valleys and forests of Zululand not so many years ago, have disappeared before the rifle of the Dutchman, or, more destructive still, the rifle of the nigger, supplied to him for some paltry gain by Dutch or Portuguese trader.

In Mashonaland and Matabeleland much of the game has been cleared off by rifle and rinderpest. The British South Africa Company’s Authorities (all honour to them for it) have established game preserves and a stringent game law, but still the game decreases every year. The reserves are not large enough and the precautions against infringement of the law not strict enough. Not so long ago a Dutchman in Matabeleland killed five kudu bulls in one day, and left them lying where they fell. It is true that he was detected and punished, but for every law-breaker who meets with his just reward quite twenty go free. It is a mistake to suppose that English sportsmen are responsible for the extermination of the game, for the amount which they kill is as dust in the balance compared with the wholesale slaughter committed by Dutch and Colonial settlers and traders and by natives.

The British East Africa Authorities (who, by the way, have reserved a strip of country alongside the Uganda Railway which is full of game) have decreed that a “sportsman’s license” shall be issued to a visitor to the country for £50, whereas a “settler’s license” may be had for £10. A law on the same lines, though the amounts are smaller, has just come into force in North-west Rhodesia. This seems to me manifestly unjust. A man goes out from England to shoot for the sake of the sport alone. So that he obtains good specimens for his collection and kills enough meat to keep his boys he is content, and wanton slaughter is probably repugnant to him. It would be useless for him to shoot more than his allowance of each kind of game, for an attempt to take the heads out of the country would lead to instant detection. Dutchmen, on the other hand, and, alas, many “English” colonials, are, like natives, hampered by no sportsmanlike considerations whatever. They kill game so that they may sell the hides for a few miserable shillings, and they kill it in season and out of season, bulls, cows and calves alike, careless of whether they can use or keep the meat or not. Moreover, they are not likely to run any risk of punishment for this wanton and indiscriminate slaughter, for the tell-tale heads are left upon the veldt. This kind of thing has been going on for years in Southern Rhodesia, and with the advance of “civilisation” it will proceed merrily in the territories to the north of the Zambesi, until all South and Central African big game has been either killed off or driven away to the fastnesses of the Bechuanaland deserts and the equatorial swamps. More ominous than anything else for the future of the great game is the fact (which the British South African officials may deny if they like) that the natives in their Northern territories have many rifles and plenty of ammunition.

I have attempted to show that, to my way of thinking, there will arise during the next few years two very pressing needs:—

(1) To find a new sporting training-ground for Englishmen.

(2) To save the great game of Africa and India from final extinction. And I think if the British, Colonial and Indian Governments be sufficiently enterprising and large-minded, these two objects might be effected conjointly, without much real difficulty and without great outlay.

My scheme is:—In the mountains of Northern India, in the Northern Transvaal, in Zululand, Mashonaland, Matabeleland, Bechuanaland, Northern Rhodesia, Uganda, British East Africa and Somaliland, there exist thousands of square miles of country, either mountain ranges, poor veldt, sandy desert, forest, bush, or swamp, which can never be used for either agricultural or pastoral purposes, but which are the natural homes of the great game.

Let enormous reserves be formed in these places, the larger the better, in which _no game at all_ may be shot for market purposes. Rangers may be appointed, these being Government officials, and these rangers would have power to grant licenses to kill game to any _approved_ British subject. The applicant would have to produce proofs that he was a respectable individual, and would have to make a statement upon oath that he wished to kill game merely for sport—for the sake of the trophies—or for scientific purposes, and not with any idea of making money out of it. He would have to pay for his license, the amount varying according to where he wished to go and what he wished to shoot. These licenses could be granted by the home or Colonial Governments for particular districts, subject to the approval of the local rangers, which of course would not be withheld except for good reason.

The money paid for the licenses would go towards the necessary expenses of maintaining the reserves.

The duties of a ranger would be:—

(1) To prevent unauthorised persons from shooting in the reserve; this should not be difficult, for news travels with amazing rapidity in savage countries, and a ranger would be sure to hear of any white man shooting within fifty miles of his camp.

(2) To prevent as far as possible the killing of game by natives, either with firearms, pits or deadfalls. This would be far more difficult.

(3) To check the sale of guns and ammunition to the natives by Dutch, Portuguese, or Arab traders.

(4) To see that no one is allowed to trade for ivory or skins within the reserves, and as far as possible to see that the natives are not in possession of these commodities.

(5) To keep himself acquainted as far as possible with the amount of different kinds of game in his reserve.

Sportsmen would be licensed to kill only a certain number of certain animals, at the discretion of the ranger. The latter would then be able to make sure that no particular kind of game was being unduly persecuted. For instance, if he thought the stock of kudu, let us say, on his reserve was getting too low, he would issue no licenses to kill kudu until he thought fit.

No white settlements would be allowed within the reserve, except the camps of the ranger and his assistants, and no trading would be allowed except by special permit from the ranger.

I am afraid my scheme will seem Utopian to most people. At the same time, I am convinced that only by some such drastic measures as I have outlined can the destruction of great game by traders and market hunters be checked, and the wild places of the empire be maintained for the enjoyment of British sportsmen.

BLACKTHORN.

A Plea for the Hare.

I never see a hare when out for a country walk or ride—it is different, I fear, when I have a gun in my hand or am following beagles—without thinking to myself, “Poor devil!” For here is an animal, one of the few mammals remaining to us in England, which is the essential to one branch of sport, and which plays a leading part in two others, absolutely unprotected by law even at the breeding season of the year, when all but the vilest vermin should enjoy immunity from persecution. “Unprotected by law,” however, is too mild a term, for the iniquitous Ground Game Act even goes so far as to actually sanction the destruction of hares the whole year round. I do not propose herein to deal with the manifold objections to this Act beyond what I may call this “all-the-year round” principle and the fact that it is framed without any knowledge of the natural history of the animal it professes to deal with. For though in some parts of Norfolk and elsewhere the enormous number of hares may possibly offer some defence for its perpetration, other localities in England are naturally so denuded of hares that the creatures demand almost as much protection as would a pair of golden eagles in Hyde Park. There is, in fact, just about as much common-sense in allowing this Act to have indiscriminate power all over our country as there would be in allowing the indiscriminate persecution of partridges all over Europe just because they happen to be especially numerous in Hungary!

To quote a case in point. I spent the first twenty years of my life in a part of Surrey which, if not very prolific in game, certainly produced a fair quantity. I never saw a hare in that district except on occasions when I was following the harriers, whereas in Norfolk I have over and over again counted ten or a dozen in one field; and yet the same law of extermination reigns supreme in either county. But if we feel aggrieved with those legislators who gave us the Ground Game Act, and whom no one in their wildest flights of imagination would accuse of being sportsmen, how much more indignant ought we to be with those who claim this title, and in that guise continue to persecute the hare long after the legitimate period of winter well into the months of spring? Opinions may differ as to the usual time for the appearance of the first litter of leverets; or perhaps I should leave out the word “litters,” as does often produce only a single youngster at a birth. I do not think, however, that I shall be unjust if I claim that naturalists will hold to the theory that young hares have in mild winters been found in January and February, and very commonly in March, while only those who wish to continue hunting or coursing through the mad month will advance the somewhat convenient idea that it is unusual to see leverets much before the end of April.

This very winter, on January 19th, I watched several groups of hares busily occupied in the pursuit of love-making. Assuming that their courtship lasted a full week, which is extremely unlikely, and that the period of gestation is anything between four and five weeks, it is fair to expect that several of the hares which I saw produced young ones early in March, and for at least the last ten days of February were in a totally unfit state to run before greyhounds, harriers, or beagles. And although the month in which I write is March, and in less than a week April will have arrived, I find in my copy of the _Field_ the fixtures of no less than ten packs of harriers and beagles announced for the next seven days, and some of these without the welcome words, “to finish the season.” I hope the omission is accidental. From the same source I gather an account of a coursing meeting held as late as March 22nd, and it is quite safe to infer that many other less reputable clubs are still gaily continuing their season, and that there are a few packs of hounds still hunting puss who do not advertise their meets. And all through this time, which should be held sacred to the rites of love, in addition to coursing and hunting, the farmer continues to pump lead into the hind quarters of this unfortunate bundle of timidity.

I have mentioned as briefly as I could what we have done for the hare, let us now consider what she has done for us, and will continue to do, if we will only permit her. Out shooting we all know her charm. She may not be a very satisfactory animal to shoot at or even to kill, but the bag is not complete when we cannot add her to the total we gather round the covert-side or behind the hedges. Chiefly when partridge-driving we could least spare her cheery and monotony-breaking presence, that confiding way she has of sitting in the hedge opposite us and almost entering into conversation with us, and then her maddening habit of preferring the society of the beaters to our own. And, too, what a test of skill and quickness she affords in covert to the walking guns; and let us not forget how once—an all unconscious humourist—she beguiled an unfortunate M.F.H. into shooting a fox in mistake for her russet self! But it is not in the shooting-field that her chief business—her _raison d’être_, so to speak—lies; she plays a bigger part in the world of sport than that. There are, I believe, in England no less than one hundred and nineteen packs of harriers and forty-eight packs of beagles, making in all a total of a hundred and sixty-seven packs of hounds kept simply and solely to hunt the hare. Some of these, it is true, contain a considerable quantity of foxhound blood, but many are free from any taint of it whatsoever, and are as separate and distinct from foxhounds both in themselves and in their ancestors for all times as chalk is from cheese. These hounds exist chiefly in Lancashire, and also in Wales and Devonshire. But whether a hound is a true harrier, a diminutive foxhound, or a cross-bred, is of little importance in illustrating my point, so long as he is kept only for the purpose of pursuing the hare.

If we will consider the number of servants that each hunt has to employ, the quantity of food and fodder consumed by hounds and horses, where these latter are necessary, and multiply that result by a hundred and sixty-seven, we shall gain a rough estimate of the hare as an employer of labour and as a virtual principal in necessary purchases from farmers and various dealers.

I have not been able to accurately ascertain the number of coursing clubs existant in this country, but though they have diminished somewhat from the “good old days,” there are quite sufficient remaining to admit the claim that the cult of the greyhound resembles in a less degree the cult of the racehorse. The hare and the greyhound are quite inseparable; it is safe to say that without the former the latter would never have existed, nor would, even at this late stage of his evolution, continue to exist. If then, again, we will make a mental note of the quantity of kennels throughout the country, the work entailed by the Waterloo Cup and other less important meetings, the various employees of the Barbican Repository and Aldridge’s—though these places, of course, have other functions—we shall be bound to admit that in this branch of sport, again, the hare indirectly gives scope for a vast amount of labour. And she makes the money change hands, too, as witness the large prices now paid for greyhounds and the railway fares of spectators to various coursing meetings.

It is possible to gather from these rough facts something of the economic importance of this sandy mistress of the woods and fields; it is quite impossible to estimate how much health-giving pleasure she gives to the devotees of sport or to what enormous numbers she gives it. This point I can safely leave to the imagination of the reader. I have explained that the hare is entirely responsible for the existence of greyhound, harrier, and beagle, and to these three species I would add the Norfolk lurcher, an animal of unenviable reputation, but sometimes of extraordinary beauty, and an incalculable and perfectly legitimate assistance to the warrener. It remains only for me to touch lightly on her culinary value, to call to mind how she may be jugged, roasted, braised, hidden away in soups and game-pies, served as an _entrée_ in a dozen different forms, and I have finished an extraordinary catalogue of virtues for one little animal. The sporting kings that came before us, the Richards, the Williams, and the Georges, knew her worth, and with divers pains and penalties forbade her indiscriminate destruction. Their actions gave us a goodly heritage of hares; and for what? That we should treat her with as little consideration as we show to a stoat or a rat, although she is less defenceless in her habits than these; that we should ruthlessly proceed to exterminate the goose that lays so many golden eggs.

Hunted and coursed till far too late in the season, shot and snared all the year round, without a hole or burrow wherein to hide her inconveniently large body, how long will she survive these methods save in the sacred precincts of the large game preserves whose owners—good luck to them!—drive a motor-car through the Ground Game Act? The Hare Preservation Act, the only legislation in her favour at present existant, is not worth the parchment the precious document is written on; for it only prohibits the sale of English hares during March, April, May, June and July. Of foreign hares it says nothing, and many foreign hares differ so little from the English ones that no one can tell the difference! And poor puss does not ask for much, she would like, as would all her friends, the abolition of the Ground Game Act; but, failing this, she only wants one little Act to give her immunity from death or danger from February 28th—or a little earlier if possible—to September 1st; and does she not deserve it?

ALAN R. HAIG BROWN.

Pelota.

To the ball-playing English, the introduction to their notice of the ball-game of some other nation appears but in the light of a fulfilment of its natural destiny. Sooner or later all games come to England, on approval, as it were. In this way the vigorous Italian game of pallone was many years since exhibited in London, without any expectation of its being adopted by the English; whilst in 1875 lacrosse, the rough-and-tumble game of the Red Indian, put into playable shape by the Canadian, made its appearance to take up a permanent residence. It was inevitable that Pelota, the game of the Basques, should some day be brought to England, and the event duly took place in January last. I should have regarded it as little short of a calamity had I been deprived of a sight of the spectacle, but, although at the very time that the imported players were exhibiting their skill at Olympia I was travelling out of England, I was, strange to say, on my way to the Basque country and Northern Spain, where the game is assiduously played, though not more so than in those countries of the American continent which have been peopled by the Spaniards.

The derivation of the name of the game is the simplest. “Pelota” merely means “ball,” and the ball game of the Basques became “pelota,” just as the Canadian Indians, in the language of one of their tribes, designated what we now call lacrosse, “bagattaway,” _i.e._, the ball-game. The French Basques call the ball pelote, and the game pelota. Goya, in one of his many delightful pictures to be seen in Madrid, depicts a game of pelota in which the players, in the open, are using battledores. Goya (1746–1828) depicted the scenes of his own day. If he lived at the present time he would have to be satisfied with a couple of errand boys snatching a furtive game at hand-ball against a back wall or gateway. That is called “pelota” nowadays, just as was Goya’s picnic game, and on the walls of public buildings in Spain we read that the playing of pelota against them is forbidden. It is as well to insist upon the universality of the meaning of the word “pelota,” for quite recent visitors to Spain have recorded it as evidence of the avidity with which the game, meaning the scientific one of the courts, is played throughout Spain, that even the walls of churches would not be sacred to players but for these prohibitory notices. The error reminds one of the man who, seeing on the front at Hove, Brighton, a notice prohibiting hawking, took it to refer to some bygone practice of illegal falconry. If he was a foreigner, then he would be in precisely the same position as the flitting Englishman taking “pelota” to mean the court game, not being aware of its wide application.

The statement has been made more than once that pelota is the national game of Spain, numbers of Spaniards themselves being of this opinion. Pelota is the national game of the Basques, and it appears in Castilian and Catalonian towns, through their paid agency, as a spectacle, much after the manner of bull-fighting, although, in places where courts are established, the amateur is to be met with. Better informed Spaniards call the game the “Sport Vasco,”[13] giving a Spanish rendering of the word “Basque,” but “_El juego de pelota_” (the game of pelota) is of universal application. The game is played in three ways—with the bare hand, with the pala (battledore) and with the chistera, the long, curved, wicker implement, strapped to the hand, wherein the ball is caught, and wherewith it is propelled against the wall. The tactics bear the usual family likeness belonging to all ball games that include the use of a wall or walls. With certain restrictions, the wall struck, the ball must be taken and returned on or before the first bound; failure to do so, or to keep it within the limits of the court, losing a stroke. The scoring at present adopted is the simple one of points, so many up, and everything that goes wrong scores against the wrong-doer. It was not always played thus, for a quarter of a century since tennis scoring was in vogue in places, the game itself being also more intricate than that at present adopted. The pace at which the game is played is sufficient to preclude all else beyond mere service and return. The extreme resilience of the ball, whose solid rubber core supplies about three-fourths of the weight of the whole, is probably largely responsible for the pace, without which the game would not count for much. No definite dimensions are laid down for the court, and it is tolerably safe to say that no two will be found exactly alike. The Basque game of the Pyrenees is played in the open air against a single wall, and this was the original game, bearing much the same resemblance to the indoor game with three walls that the old-fashioned single wall racket-court, common enough around London a generation since, does to the indoor court with four walls. The Basques are fond of declaring that the old single wall game is the best, but in this I venture to join issue. Physically, outdoor play at any game is superior to indoor, but the addition of a side-wall, or walls, entirely changes a game by reason of the variety introduced. The front wall, called _frontis_, has, or should have, a face of smooth stone, cement being sometimes substituted. The height will vary, from the Pyrenean village court with seven or eight metres, to the indoor court with eleven metres or more. The floor will vary also, some open-air courts sufficing with cement in front for a few metres, the rest being gravel. But whatever the characteristic of the court may be, one feature belongs to all, and that is the pace at which the ball travels. In the case of the open court it will be understood that the ball is kept going until one player fails to secure it in his chistera on its return, or returns it out of court, which may be below the line, in pelota taking the form of a metal strip that rings on being struck.

The large enclosed courts, such as one sees at Madrid and Barcelona, are commercial affairs and admirably arranged for spectators. The best is probably at Barcelona. The length of the cement floor there is sixty-eight metres, with a width of eleven metres. The front wall is the same width as the court and eleven and a half metres high. On the left, extending the whole length of the court, is a wall of the same height, and there is an end wall the full width of the court, nine metres high. Statements to the effect that the front wall should be sixty feet high, must be made on a misconception. The wall of the building may approach that height, but the playing wall is as stated; and surely about thirty-six feet is high enough for anything. Let any one look at a wall sixty feet high and wonder what a ball could be doing at the top of it. The end wall is called the _rebote_ (hence _jeu de rebote_), and it is probably this feature to which the Basques refer as being inferior, since it does away with fine length strokes played to keep an opponent on the back line; with the end wall he can take his time, waiting for the ball to come back. Such is the power put into the stroke that the ball frequently bounds from front to back wall, without touching the floor, and rebounds half way back again, although the end wall is not a quick one like the _frontis_. The ball for the game with the chistera must weigh between 118 and 122 grammes, and of this the rubber core must weigh between 90 and 94 grammes. The pace at which this missile can be propelled out of the chistera is terrific, it being greater than the hardest “force” ever seen at tennis, which is only reasonable, the one being the result of percussion, the other of a centrifugal motion, so to speak. The side wall introduces difficulties into the catching and also some very attractive corner play, necessarily absent from the single wall game. Appreciation of this fact is shown in the case of some open air courts to the front wall of which a short side wall has been added. Balls secured at short range, and fired into the corner just over the line (at Barcelona one metre twenty centimetres from the floor) are nearly always fatal, so sharp is the angle at which they come off, but if the ball be gathered—and to see this done on the rise at the pace the ball is travelling is a fine thing—then the boot is on the other leg. It is by the corner shot that most “won” points are secured, many more points being “lost” by failure to catch, or by returning out of court. In this direction rackets makes a far superior game; and although not cheap in the matter of balls, pelota would not have any advantage here. A split ball is useless, and a considerable number are required in each match. Balls are divided into “extra fina,” “fina,” and “renovado,” _i.e._, renovated, and a player must name which he is using and also the maker before commencing. The ball is bounced behind the service line decided upon and the server, dashing forward, “swishes” it, with one movement, against the _frontis_. It must rebound so as to touch the floor, if it is allowed to do so by the striker-out, between the fourth and sixth chase lines, called _cuadros_, of which there are seventeen at Barcelona, each four metres apart from the other. The indoor game is nearly always four-handed—a game at singles being a poor affair—two playing back and two forward. The back play is really very fine, for the ball has to be kept out of the reach of the forwards ready to pounce upon a short one.

JACK SHEPHERD ON WHITETHORN.

_From the painting by A. F. Lucas Lucas._]
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In the extreme unlikelihood of pelota being introduced into England, seeing that the much more economical open air rackets has been allowed to die, it may hardly be worth while to consider its suitability. But the suggestion has been put forward, so it may be mentioned that all with whom I came into contact who had knowledge of the game spoke of its extreme severity. A game of fifty or sixty points can last along while, and a ball is commonly returned twenty or thirty times in deciding a single point. The keynote to the game is severity, and from this there is no rest from start to finish, the opportunity for finessing with a slow one coming perhaps only once in a game, or not even once. The effect of the stroke with the chistera is very different from that effected with the racket, and exceedingly trying to the player.

As a spectacular game pelota is a great success, one side of the huge building being available for spectators, and the galleries at Barcelona will hold some thousands. The ground floors are occupied by the bettors, who are catered for by regular bookmakers and the pari-mutuel. Such an arrangement would no doubt answer well in England, but we need not think about that.

E. T. SACHS.

Jack Shepherd.

AN OLD HUNT SERVANT.