Tales of a Nomad ; or, Sport and Strife. By
Charles Montague. (Longmans and Co.)—A big-game hunter relates for our benefit his most interesting hunts, and his most exciting encounters with natives in Africa. Of its kind, it is one of the best sporting narratives we have read for some time. The reiteration of the "kill, kill, kill," is apt to grow wearisome ; but Charles Mon- tague, though full of detail, brings before us thrilling moments of a hunter's life with great vividness. These days are past, he tells us mournfully, and the game extinct ; and, indeed, it is easy to realise why the great game of even a continent becomes scarce. Men like Charles Montague, who started out with a party and with the determination to fill three large waggons with buffalo- hides, ruin the sport for future sportsmen. Such men make great pioneers, Mr. Selous, to wit ; but they slaughter game—there is no other word for it—for profit. They are fine fellows, these great hunters, to meet, and to talk to, but they waste Nature in a perfectly shozking and unnecessary manner. What is the use of Charles Montague telling us that he refrained from shooting some game wantonly, when a little farther on he tells us that the total bag of buffaloes was 248, and the total head of game 800! Even a Gordon-Cumming does not find it necessary to pile up the slain like this. For the rest, the volume is pervaded with the South African atmosphere, and presents the natives and their peculiarities with great humour and insight. It is really a capital book, one to be read by all, and particularly by sportsmen.
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