SUGGESTIONS TO SPORTSMEN. 285 
to do terrible damage. Every possible precaution 
must be taken, vigilance must never be relaxed, the 
muzzle must under no circumstances point towards 
the owner or his companions; if two men are crawl- 
ing through thick brush, the gun of the first must 
point forwards, and of the last, backwards; the caps 
should always be removed when the sportsman gets 
into a wagon, and when the loaded weapon is left 
in a house the hammers ought never to be left 
down on the caps; but, above all, no man who is 
not in search of an early grave should pull a gun 
towards him by the barrels. 
These rules are simple, and the reasons for them 
apparent ; if the hammer is on the cap, a blow on it, 
or its catching on a twig, will discharge the load; 
if a horse runs away, as horses have an ited 
habit of doing, even if the lock is at half-cock, the 
tumbler may be broken down; if a gun is capped in 
a house, every one but an idiot knows it is loaded; 
and if it is drawn towards a person—as will be 
often done by thoughtless people in taking it from 
a wagon or lifting it from a boat or from the ground 
—it is almost sure to go off. 
In the field it should be carried either at whole or 
half-cock; authorities differ as to which of these 
two modes is the safer. If the hammer is at full 
cock, a touch on the trigger will set it loose ; if it is 
at half-cock, in the excitement of cocking it when a 
bird rises unexpectedly, it will often slip uninten- 
tionally. I prefer the former method, believing 
that the sense of danger makes the person more 
