THE BIG GAME OF AFRICA 



more than twenty-five pounds, cover and all. It should 

 always be carried while tracking big game, such as ele- 

 phants, lions, and buffaloes, as one never knows how far 

 from the main camp the chase may lead. Without such 

 an emergency tent the hunter would often either lose much 

 time, and possibly the game, by having to return to camp 

 for the night, or else experience the discomforts and dan- 

 gers of having to sleep in the jungle without any shelter 

 — which is neither pleasant nor safe. Besides this little 

 tent, it is wise always to let a man carry a small bag or a 

 tin containing emergency rations of bread, biscuits, tinned 

 meat, cocoa or tea, and sugar enough for two days, in case 

 it is found expedient to follow the beast very far from the 

 permanent camp. Had I always done this myself it would 

 have saved me many a disappointment and unnecessary 

 exposure. 



9. The question of armament is one about which each 

 hunter seems to have his own ideas ; but one thing is sure, 

 that just as it is impossible for a tailor to make a suit of 

 clothes that will fit all sizes of men, just as impossible is 

 it for a gun maker to turn out a weapon which is equally 

 serviceable for all sorts of game. The small-caliber guns, 

 like the marvelous little .256 Mannlicher-Shoenaur, with 

 its flat trajectory, long range and enormous penetration, 

 come nearest to perfection no doubt, for I have myself not 

 only killed such game as wildebeest, leopard, and zebra 

 at from two hundred to five hundred yards with that gun, 

 but also with only one shot at each instantly killed a charg- 

 ing rhinoceros and two elephants. Yet I should hesitate to 

 go against a charging lion with such a gun, unless I was 

 close enough to be sure of a head shot, for the bullet is 



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