AN ENCYCLOPAIDIA OF SPORT.*
WE own to a pleasant surprise on reading through the first volume of The Encyclopedia of Sport. Its compilers have achieved a success of an unusual kind. They have produced a book not only valuable as a practical guide over the wide range of field sports and pastimes, but one written in a uni- formly interesting style. It is rendered not only more useful, but very attractive, by illustrations of great artistic merit. Mr. Thorburn's English woodlands and Scotch moors ; Mr. J. G. Millais's scenes among the antelopes in South Africa; and Mr. E. C. Caldwell's big game, bears and leopards, are all in the artists' best manner ; and with the aid of J. G. Keulemans, W. F. Calderon, C. Brock, and E. Fahey, the illustration is as representa- tive of modern sport and natural history as the letterpress. As an instance of the practical character of the book, we may take the article on "Camping Out," which also illus- trates the treatment adopted throughout for analogous subjects. Climate is the main guide, bat not the only one. Accordingly Mr. A. M. Naylor deals with camping out in South Africa, Mr. Turner Turner with the requirements of North America, and Mr. Inverarity with the equipment necessary for India. The first states succinctly the kind of transport neoessary,—i.e., the waggon, its price, the draught animals, the coat of oxen, mules, and donkeys, the modifications necessary for entering the "fly country," stores and their price, camp furniture, a table of wages, the tradesmen from whom special articles may be obtained, the pre- servatives suitable for curing skins, and a list of medicines to combat African ailments. Exchanging the veldt and the African swamp for the crisp snows and forests of British Columbia, we turn to Mr. Turner Turner's brief and practical directions, showing even how to light a good fire Kentucky fashion, and illustrated with a charming picture of the author's camp by the Peace River, his wife preparing the evening meal under the pines, and a Scotch deerhound and a couple of terriers sitting in the door of his tent. The hints on Indian equipment are equally thorough and suggestive. Under the head of "Big Game" much supplementary information will be found as to details of routes, expenses, licenses, servants, armament, and equipment. Each variety of big game has a separate article devoted to it, many of which are illustrated by lifelike draw- ings from the brush of Mr. E. Caldwell and Mr. J. Gr. Millais. Mr. Theodore Rooseveldt deals with the cariboo, Mr. Alfred Harmsworth writes a most interesting paper on crocodile-shooting by night in a Florida swamp, Mr. Selous treats of the African elephant, and Mr. H. Bryden with most of the African antelopes. Bear-shooting is subdivided into a most interesting series of articles by different hands. We do not see any direct reference to the "new bear," the Ursus Dalli of Alaska, but this must be the creature to which Mr. Turner Turner refers as follows :—" The largest bear in the world, excepting the Polar bear, inhabits Alaska, and does not seem to have received due attention from any naturalist. It differs somewhat from the grizzly in the uniformity of its colour and in the shape of its claws, and is • The Eacyclop.edia of Sport. Rditecl by the EGO. of Suffolk and Berk.hire. Hadley Peek, and F. G. Aftalo. Vol. 1. London : Lawrence and Sullen. [251.1 said to be plentiful in the dense forest round Mount Elias." There is a stuffed specimen of this big bear in the Hon. Walter Rothschild's museum at Tring. Neither do we find an adequate account of shooting the grizzly bear, or any light on the interbreeding of the grizzly with the black or brown species, which some sportsmen, including Sir Samuel Baker, believe to take place. Mr. Warburton Pike writes an interesting paper on the Rocky Mountain goat, and the needs of most sportsmen are served by the inclusion of papers on " First Aid" in case of accident. The arts of taxidermy and veterinary surgery are not omitted. The general conclusion drawn from the series of articles on big-game shooting. from the Equator to the Pole, is that a great change is noticeable in all forms of this sport, except in India and Canada. In the latter, things still are much as they were in the days of Montcalm, with the exception of buffalo-shooting. In India, though mountain shooting is now the most fashionable sport, the old-fashioned and incom- parable sport of the Southern and Central Provinces, which the author of the "Old Forest Ranger" describes so graphically, is pursued by much the same methods, and with the same success and concomitant danger. In the range of home sports a comparison of the present volume with Blaine's Encyclopedia of Rural Sports, first pub- lished in 1840, shows that the methods of most have under- gone much change. Game-shooting, in regard to the quantity of game in the country, has immensely improved in quality. Wild-fowling, to which Mr. Sharpe contributes a useful article on goose-shooting, has naturally deteriorated. Deer- stalking shares with small-game shooting the increase in quantity, and we believe in quality, in the average forest, and only one sport seems to have undergone almost no appre- ciable change at all. This, it is needless to say, is fox- hunting. We believe that forty years ago the equipment and knowledge of this sport had reached a point which could not be improved. Hounds, horses, dress, and the art of riding and of managing hounds were perfect ; it only remained to bring provincial packs into line with "the Shires," and this has largely taken place. "Country," rather than equip- ment, accounts for the differences which now exist. We have compared the article by Tom Firr on the fox with Mr. Tom Smith's Life of a lox, published years ago (now republished by Mr. Edward Arnold), and find in a paper written by one who has had as much experience as any one in modern England no fresh facts as to the habits of the fox, nor does Lord Coventry's contribution on fox-hunting hint at new developments either in field or kennel. There is a slight revival of beagling, and otter-hunting is a sport rapidly growing in favour. Mr. Gerald Lascelles contributes some interesting pages on this sport, and adds a list of the packs now hunting in the United Kingdom. Of the sixteen packs, Wales, Ireland, Devon, Somerset, and the North own the greater number ; but there is one at New- port Pagnell in Buckinghamshire, one at Wilton, Salisbury (Mr. Courtenay Tracy's), and one in Shropshire, the Hawke- stone Otter Hounds. Generally we may say that English field sports have much improved, and in almost no case deteriorated, daring the last half-century. In one or two ancient and picturesque forms there has been a successful revival, notably in falconry, the use of cormorants for fishing, and various forms of sea-fishing, which are well indited of in this volume. But the maintenance of field sports in this country is wholly overshadowed by the astonishing growth of "pastimes," grouped generally under the name of sport, but more properly differentiated under the old-fashioned title. Most of these come under the head of "Games," and the space which they occupy is a tribute to the interest taken in them by the public. Except baseball and lacrosse, nearly every one of them is of English origin, or mainly played in this country; and the present state of the game, rules, phrases, glossary, and method of play are presented with great success by a series of writers who have won distinction in each. Many of these sports and pastimes are the creation of the last fifty years. Even football is not mentioned in the early editions of Blaine's work. Others, like canoeing and cycling, are quite modern, have attained extraordinary popularity, and really added to the sum-total of human enjoyment. Then, again, ladies have now their share in this second order of sports, one formerly confined almost entirely to archery. Special articles on cycling for ladies, by the Countess of I Malmesbury, and on lawn-tennis for ladies, by Miss L. Dod.
are therefore added to the list, and will be interesting reading for future generations. The long list of " athletics " and gymnastics is less interesting to the general reader than to specialists ; but the articles on boxing and fencing are readable as well as instructive.
If the wisdom of books could make fishermen catch fish, there would be none left in our rivers. The articles dealing with this form of sport are wisely kept apart under the names of the different fish. How to preserve and catch them is described very pleasantly by many well-known hands, among them Mr. Senior (grayling), and " John Bickerdyke " (con- servancy of rivers). The latter maintains, as has frequently been urged in these columns, that "with regard to trout streams, given a reasonable entent of water, and a not too severe climate, almost anything can be done to raise the stock of trout within fair limits, thanks to modern fish. culture." In the latter, it is presumable the writer also wishes modern knowledge of the culture of fishes' food to be included. It is no use to stock a stream with young trout unless it either contains, or is supplied with, the insect food, often microscopic, but always indispensable, to feed and fatten the yearlings into fine fish fit for sport and the table.
Among the references to foreign sports is an interesting contribution on bull-fighting in modern Spain, well illustrated and described, on the use of the lazo, on baseball, in which we learn that part of the duty of the good " coacher " is not only to direct his side when to run and how much to attempt, but to "avoid all rude and offensive language. A humorous coacher, whilst his humour serves its purpose in increasing the chances of his side, is highly diverting to the spectators, and adds life and zest to the game." This Tyrtman " coacher" is born, we are told, not made. The ways of American play- ing-games are curiously un-English. Fancy two teams at Lords' with "humorous coa,chers " diverting their side and the spectators !
The second half of this encyclopmdia, of which the present volume closes at "Leo," is issued in monthly parts. The first instalment is excellent in every way, and the editors have only to maintain their present lines to achieve equal success with the future volumes. The death of the Earl of Suffolk and Berkshire. who was editor-in-chief of these volumes, has unfortunately taken place before the work was completed, but his coadjutors doubtless maintain its standard of excellence.
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