UEL BAKER]

Baker was born in London, June 8th, 1821, and died December 30th, 1893.
With his brother he established, in 1847, a settlement in the mountains
of Ceylon, where he spent several years. His experiences in the far East
appear in books entitled 'The Rifle and Hound in Ceylon' and 'Eight
Years Wandering in Ceylon.' In 1861, accompanied by his young wife and
an escort, he started up the Nile, and three years later, on the 14th of
March, 1864, at length reached the cliffs overlooking the Albert Nyanza,
being the first European to behold its waters. Like most Englishmen, he
was an enthusiastic sportsman, and his manner of life afforded him a
great variety of unusual experiences. He visited Cyprus in 1879, after
the execution of the convention between England and Turkey, and
subsequently he traveled to Syria, India, Japan, and America. He kept
voluminous notes of his various journeys, which he utilized in the
preparation of numerous volumes:--'The Albert Nyanza'; 'The Nile
Tributaries of Abyssinia'; 'Ismaeilia,' a narrative of the expedition
under the auspices of the Khedive; 'Cyprus as I Saw It in 1879';
together with 'Wild Beasts and Their Ways,' 'True Tales for My
Grandsons,' and a story entitled 'Cast Up by the Sea,' which was for
many years a great favorite with the boys of England and America. They
are all full of life and incident. One of the most delightful memories
of them which readers retain is the figure of his lovely wife, so full
of courage, loyalty, buoyancy, and charm. He had that rarest of
possibilities, spirit-stirring adventure and home companionship at once.

HUNTING IN ABYSSINIA

From 'The Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia'

On arrival at the camp, I resolved to fire the entire country on the
following day, and to push still farther up the course of the Settite to
the foot of the mountains, and to return to this camp in about a
fortnight, by which time the animals that had been scared away by the
fire would have returned. Accordingly, on the following morning,
accompanied by a few of the aggageers, I started upon the south bank of
the river, and rode for some distance into the interior, to the ground
that was entirely covered with high withered grass. We were passing
through a mass of kittar thorn bush, almost hidden by the immensely high
grass, when, as I was ahead of the party, I came suddenly upon the
tracks of rhinoceros; these were so unmistakably recent that I felt sure
we were not far f