Page:Allan Octavian Hume, C.B.; Father of the Indian National Congress.djvu/58

 expressed its appreciation of this "unrivalled series of specimens" :

"Taken in conjunction with his gift in 1891, of the bulk of his collection of similar objects, it constitutes one of the most valuable acquisitions of the kind ever received by that institution. Apart from the collection presented at various times during the first half of the last century by Mr. Brian Hodgson, the Museum before 1891 was poor in specimens of Indian big game, whereas it now possesses, thanks to Mr. Hume, a collection of these objects which is certainly unsurpassed and probably unrivalled. When Mr. Hume gave the bulk of his collection to the Museum in 1891, he reserved for himself a certain number of picked specimens, and it is these that have now become the property of the nation.

"The collection, which embraces specimens not only from India proper, but from the Himalaya, Kuen-Lun, Pamirs, Burma, etc., was made at a time when the big game of many parts of this area was more abundant than is the case at the present day, and consequently includes finer examples of many species than are now obtainable. And it is this which constitutes its chief value and interest, as it would nowadays be quite impossible to bring together a similar collection. Mr. Hume never did things by halves, and when his collections of big game trophies and birds were made he had collectors or agents at work in all the countries accessible from India.

"Nowadays, it is almost superfluous to mention, sportsmen attach a high value to heads which are 'records,' or nearly such, in the matter of horn-length ; and it is quite obvious that as many specimens as possible of this class — as being the finest and handsomest of their kind — ought to be in the national collection. In specimens of this nature the Hume bequest is particularly rich, con-