alist and the keenness of the
sportsman, we might find that in his form and colour he does in his
own peculiar fashion fitly express the purpose of his being. And
whatever adequately expresses a definite purpose is beautiful.
Where a dainty antelope would be altogether out of place, the
ponderous rhinoceros may be completely in his element. Where a
tender-skinned horse would be driven mad by insects, the
thick-skinned beast passes the time untroubled. In a drawing-room a
daintily-dressed lady is a vision of loveliness. In a ploughed field
she would look ridiculous. In a drawing-room a peasant would look
uncouth. In a field, as Millet has shown us, he possesses a beauty,
dignified and touching. It is not impossible, therefore, that an artist
who had the opportunity of entering into the life of a rhinoceros, as
Millet had of entering into the life of a peasant, might discover
beauty even in that monstrosity. This, however, I allow is an
extreme case.

In a less extreme case beauty has already been discovered. The bison
does not at first sight strike us as a beautiful animal. Yet Mr.
Stebbing, the naturalist-sportsman, says that, as he caught sight of
one after a long stalk, and watched it with palpitating heart, he was
fascinated by the grand sight--18 hands of coal-black beauty shining
like satin in the light filtering through the branches of the trees.

When we move on from the bison to the stag the beauty is evident
enough. A stag carries himself right royally, and has a rugged,
majestic beauty all his own. There are few more beautiful sights in
the animal world than that of a lordly stag standing tense with
preparedness to turn swiftly, and, on the instant, bound away in any
direction.

Not majestic like the great deer, but of a more airy grace and
daintiness, are the smaller deer and antelope. The lightness of their
tread, their suppleness of movement, and their spring and litheness,
fill us with delight.

* * *

We now come to the crown of the animal kingdom--man. And in the
Sikkim Himalaya are to be found men of all the stages of civilisation
from the most primitive to the most advanced. Inhabiting the forests
at the foot of the mountains are certain jungle peoples of extreme
interest simply by reason of their primitiveness. They represent the
very early stages of man, and in observing them in their own haunts,
we shall understand something of the immensity and the delicacy of
man's task in gaining his asce