IVIY SOMALI BOOK 



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double 12-bore ball-and-shot gun, be the other what he 

 will. Remember that the former is a shot-gun which 

 will shoot all your small game for you, and do it well. 

 I have done a fair amount of shooting, duck, snipe, 

 etc., during the last two years in India with my Paradox 

 alone, and never felt the weight excessive, or wanted 

 a better gun ; while the advantage in a hasty snap- 

 shot, or in meeting a charge, of the gun with which 

 one is accustomed to miss a snipe (as an old friend of 

 mine used to put it) hardly needs elaboration. It is 

 distinctly an objection, in comparison, to a heavy 







^=^^^^ 



rifle which is rarely required, that it does not become 

 familiar in handling by use. 



So much for the lion and tiger. I had no idea it 

 would take me so many pages to decide the exact 

 method of encompassing their decease ! A small 

 leopard is no doubt in a different category to a lion, 

 but leopards or panthers vary much in size, and though 

 the smallest can perhaps be killed by a strong man 

 with his bare hands, as a recent writer has depreci- 

 atingly stated, yet he will leave his marks with fang 

 and poisoned claw ; while no ordinary man, if his 

 rifle failed him, would have a ghost of a chance against 



