34 SHOOTING IN' CHINA 



would admit. There are a few of the 

 flint-lock guns, single and double, built by 

 Manton which, on account of their ex- 

 quisite finish and proportion are treasured 

 away in gilded cases as too sacred to be 

 exposed in the field. The present day 

 shooter would have to practice for some- 

 time before succeeding with a right and left 

 of a flint-lock gun, but Col. Hawker tells 

 us that with such a gun he was successful 

 with fourteen consecutive rights and lefts 

 at partridges and fourteen consecutive 

 single barrel kills at snipe, and because he 

 shot with one of Mantcn's guns which he 

 was able to pitch quicker than anv other. 

 Manton died in 1835, before the breech 

 loaders and choke bore came into fashion, 

 but if living his genius would no doubt 

 enable him to hold the first place in his 

 profession as when he was the acknowledg- 

 ed head of all gunmakers. In bend and 

 shape the modern gun is similar to that of 

 a Manton's, v^-hich proves that his fertile 

 and inventive mind was far ahead of his 

 time in knowledge as to how a gun should 

 be shaped in order that the shooter might 

 pitch it quicker and with more comfort. It 

 is interesting to read the opinions of this 



