The Sun.
London, England, 1861-03-26 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

The English Sportsman in the Western Prairies.
By the Hon. Grantley F. Berkeley. Hurst and
Blackett.

Louis Napoleon went to war with Austria for the
sake of an idea—how he fulfilled, it is patent to all.
The French Emperor is not alone in undertaking
enterprises for an idea, for the Hon. Grantley
Berkeley was seized with the idea that he should
like to kill a buffalo on bis native prairies, for which
purpose he crossed the Atlantic and penetrated to
the outskirts of American civilisation. How he
succeeded is manifested in the window of The Field
newspaper, in the Strand, as also in the present
interesting narrative of his adventures. Before
entering upon an analysis of the work, we may men-
tion that it is compiled from a diary kept by the
author during his travels. Of course all private
matters are suppressed ; but l'eyond this all the de-
tails of his journey which are without interest are
omitted, and only thome parts which contain interest,
or are necessary as connecting links, are submitted
to the inspection of the reader. It is a difficult
task to discriminate in a narrative of this kind be-
tween being prolix or going to the other extreme,
and making what ought to be amusing a dry epitome.
The lion. Grantley Berkeley has, however, hit the
Juste milieu. lie is plain and straightforward, and
tells things as they happened. He expresses his
opinion of Americans as he found them, without
favour or affection. As a whole Brother Jonathan
ought to be satisfied ; for if his shortcomings are
freely censured, his good points are brought
out in bold relief by the very comparison.
On first arriving in America Mr. Berkeley was
disappointed at his reception, until he found out
the reason for the supposed neglect, which we can-
not do better than give in his own words :

" I confess myself to have been surprised at this, for my
brother sportsmen in America had been apprised of my
coming visit; and as an Englishman was about to throw
himself, in that sort of off-hand manner generally
so pleasing to men who make the plains and forests the
scenes of hearty companionship, on their generosity, I
naturally expected that they would give me some sort of
facility or counsel, not only as to my journey to the Far
West, but more particularly as to the conveyance of my
dogs, unprotected as they were by their laws, and not even
recognised on the rail as things for which the company had
provided any means of conveyance. When I assure my
readers that this apparent neglect surprised me,' that star-
prise only lasted till I became better and locally acquainted
with the men among whom I was about to travel. When I
made their acquaintance 1 understood it all, and for bre-
vity's sake, as well as perspicuity, my knowledge is summed
up in the following few words.

" No man who signs himself of whatever rank is gene-
rally believed to be the person he represonts himself to be
until some other man in America introduces him according
to the signature he has given out. The Prdsident is not
believed to be the President, and Mr. Cobden is not believed
to be the free-trade orator, when on travel, unless, like
sharks, they have a pilot fish or ' man in black' to verify
or proclaim their individuality—hence no one believed in
me."

In vain did the adventurer, befiire leaving
England, seek for information from his friends
who had been in America as to outfit, pro-
bable expense, and other matters of detail ;
everybody could tell him everything but what
he wanted to know, and in the end he started with
his English dogs and English guns, and left the
rest to chance. How the advice of friends proved
fallacious was manifested on his arrival at St.
Louis, before he had entered the prairies, by his
finding himself, what is commonly termed, " hard
up." Here it was that the true American character
showed itself, inasmuch that tt gentleman with
whom he had not two days' acquaintance under-
stood his " fix" before he had half explained it, and
saying it was perfectly natural for a stranger to
have underrated the expenses of so long an expe-
dition, gave him to understand that any money he
wanted would be at his service. While speaking
highly of the upper classes in America, the author
condemns the abuse of the law of equality as prac-
tised by the lower classes, and says, with truth,
thatif the gentlemen of the United States would
maintain their proper position, and repudiate the
fellowship of the lower order of society, it would
be ultimately a benefit to both parties ; but
as it is at present, the liberty of which the
of iroXXot are so proud renders the private
individual a slave. On reaching Kansas, the
last settlement on the bounds of civilisation, he
purchased waggons, horses, and mules, and en-
gaged an incompetent guide (such was his fortune)
and some eight men, and started into the desert.
Of the cool assurance of the free and independent
inhabitants, the following is a specimen :
"I was very busy packing my ambulance at the stores
where my dogs were, which was close to the side of the
public road, when a huge jingling thing, called in America
a stage-coach, with four horses, and many passengers,
pulled up, and a big Bob: hoy, seated on the box by the
coachman, thus in a very insolently familiar tone addressed
me, " Hallo, guv'nor, so you're a going to the plains, and
I guess I'll go along with you.'
" I had already had much to find fault with that morn-
ing, and being very busy packing, my frame of mind was
not such as to put up with insolence, so I replied, ' Guess
there's two words to that, bargain.' How so, guv'nor P'
replied the fellow. Why,' I said, 'guess you won't .go
without my permission, and that you won't have.'
' Reckon I shall,' asserted the fellow, 'so guess I'll go on
into town and get my fixings.' You can do as you like
about that,' I replied, ' but as I don't like your method of
speech, and as I intend to be master and have none but
men with me, I guess you're not the sort of fellow I
want.' Guess somehow I'll get my fixings,' rejoined
the Boh-hoy ; go ahead, coachman,' and off he drove.
" On the following morning, before we started, this fellow
returned and made his application again, saying he had
got his fixings but I told him, as I had told him before,
that he should not go, and I left him behind."
In the purchase of his horses he experienced great
difficulty from the American dealers bringing him
worthless cattle, and asking exorbitant prices.
" What!" said the author to an acquaintance
standing by when a most outrageous imposition
was attempted, " is it possible that they take me
to be such a fool ?" " No," replied the other, " but
you are paying for the sins of a countryman. A
young Englishman was here not long ago who
bought horses at the price of the dealer, and then
sold them for next to nothing, so that they enter-
tain but a poor opinion of you altogether." The
Yankees, however, had misjudged their man. The
Hon. Grantley had seen too much of life, and was
too good a judge of horseflesh to be done, and he
declared that as horses were so dear and so in-
different in that locality he would buy none,
and go on foot, and to enforce this belief
he refused for some days to ; inspect any of
the horses brought to him. The ruse succeeded,
and he eventually procured some fine cattle; but
when he tried the same dodge in the purchase of
mules to draw his waggons, saying that he would
take oxen, it did not answer, the American was too
'cute to be taken in in that respect; he would not be-
lieve that a gentleman, for the sake of a few dollars,
would employ such slow animals as bullocks. At
Fort Riley he was most hospitably entertained by
the commander and the other officers on the station,
and in company with one of them, a Captain Bayard,
he killed his first Bison. His last and most re-
markable exploit was the destruction, single handed,
of the Bison which now stands in the window of
the office of the Field. This animal was not
shot down while running, as is commonly the case,
but the hunter being mounted on a flighty horse,
which was afraid of the Bison, and very restive, be
found it impossible to take correct aim, and after
some dozen ineffectual shots, and having been led
by his wily antagonist through almost impassable
creeks and morasses, he was surprised by it suddenly
turning short round and charging. This game was
kept up some time, until a favourable opportunity
offering, the Hon. G. F. Berkeley succeeded in dis-
patching his bold and mighty foe. The sketches of
observations of a man who has studied characterand
American manners are well written. They are the
knows how to appreciate it. We have all laughed
at the absurd mock delicacy of our transatlantic
friends, and the misconstruction they put upon words
used as a matter of course with us; but the follow•
ing caps all we have ever heard :

"Among the many kind civilities shown me in America,
a very pretty girl of about 14 or 15 was once permitted to
drive me out in what her father called his buggy, but which
carriage had four wheels, and was a sort of curricle drawn
by a pair of horses, to show me the woods in the full efful
gence of their autumnal tints. The afternoon I allude to
was very hot, and the declining sun giving signs of a
glorious set in purple and in gold, and the air so hushed
that on the road (or no road) in which we were, there was
no noise by horse-foot or wheels, and therefore no difficulty
in conversation. The pretty, smiling girl was driving,
with a mare on the near side, very free to her work and hot,
while on the off side there was a horse as lazy as anything
I ever saw. My charming companion was perhaps a little
diffident of being able to amuse 'an English nobleman,'
and consequent a little shy and nervous, but still most
anxious to keep up the conversation. She kept looking up
in my face with her bright, laughing, yet half-timid eyes,
while at the same time, with a sort of feverish twitching of
the whip in her hand, she never left off touching up the
mare, who had already done the entire work, and driving
her half mad. The mare at last, lathered from head to foot,
while the horse was as cool as a cucumber, began to give in,
so I said I will tell you what, dear, if you keep aggravat-
ing themare in that way, you'll knock her up.'
" ' Possible I well ! hum—hum, I'd like to know !' re-
plied my companion, more bashful than ever ; ' but don't,
Lord Berkeley; you—you oughtn't; don't, Lord Berkeley.'
Don't I' I exclaimed ; yes, you will, if, you keep
fidgeting her in that way with the whip, you'll assuredly
knock her up.'
" Possible I ' rejoinei my dear little friend, ' but you
sho*ldn't—l'm sure if I thought so I would never touch
a whip again. Don't, Lord Berkeley—you oughtn't—
don' t—'
" Looking into her pretty face, we/gluing what on earth
it was that I could have said, I saw that she was blushing
and really embarrassed ; so I changed the conversation,
amused, though, by observing that my caution as to the
mare was attended to, as my friend carried her whip more
pueerdmitto her
maervyeels
atto
erect, waving it after the manner of a fairy's wand. Our
most agreeable drive terminated soon after this, and, as I
handed her from the buggy, I saw she had grown so
laughingly bashful that she dared n
come in contact with mine, and I continued
what it could have been that I had said to make BO inex-
plicable an impression.
"In the evening her mother had a tea party, at which
she presided with a long clay pipe in her mouth; 413,