12 A HUNTER'S WANDERINGS ch. 



with fruit, unfortunately not quite ripe. We were 

 most kindly treated by Mr, William Williams, a 

 trader, who had only the preceding year returned 

 from a hunting and trading trip in the Matabele 

 country. He gave me much information about 

 Matabele Land, and showed me the large-bore 

 elephant guns which are universally used by the 

 professional Dutch and native elephant-hunters. I 

 eventually bought two of these very unprepossessing- 

 looking weapons, which I will here describe. They 

 were smooth-bore duck guns of the very commonest 

 description, taking a round bullet of four ounces, the 

 guns themselves weighing only I2|- lbs. They were 

 made by Isaac HoUis of Birmingham, and what they 

 must have cost originally I am afraid to say, for I 

 bought them from Mr. Williams after they had been 

 transported by bullock waggons over 600 miles up 

 country from Cape Town for J^G apiece. With these 

 two guns, and another similar but weighing 2 lbs. 

 heavier, which I bought the following year from a 

 Dutch hunter for ^^'7 : los., and using nothing but 

 the common trade powder that is sold to the Kafirs 

 in 5-lb. bags, I killed in three seasons seventy-eight 

 elephants, all but one of which I shot on foot. Since 

 then I have shot with very expensive large-bore 

 breech-loaders and Curtis and Harvey's best powder, 

 but I have never used or seen used a rifle which drove 

 better than these common-made old muzzle-loaders. 

 However, they were so light that, when loaded as 

 they were by the hand from a leather bag of powder 

 slung at my side (I find that an ordinary handful of 

 powder is over twenty drachms), they kicked most 

 frightfully, and in my case the punishment I received 

 from these guns has affected my nerves to such an 

 extent as to have materially influenced my shooting 



