RHODESIA. 211 



with the game all over the country, without, I 

 think, increasing the number of animals actually 

 brought to "bag." The reason for this is that 

 animals of a certain size (say up to three hundred- 

 weight) do not afford sufficient resistance to pro- 

 jectiles to cause an expansion of the bullet, and 

 therefore make but a small external wound, in 

 consequence of which little or no " blood spoor " 

 is visible generally, to enable or encourage a man 

 to follow up wounded game, which is thus left 

 to perish from internal hemorrhage, but is lost 

 to the hunter, as under such circumstances the 

 extraordinary vitality of almost all African game 

 animals, with the exception perhaps of elands, 

 suffices to enable them, although mortally wounded, 

 to escape actual capture. 



Personally, and for the reasons mentioned, after 

 sufficient trial I soon gave up the use of small- 

 bore long-range rifles, and reverted to one gauge, 

 1 2 -bores, specially made smooth-bores or rifles, 

 or '5/7-bores, for all kinds of game with satis- 

 factory results. One of the mischiefs attending 

 the use of small-bores is that, in spite of oneself, 

 one is often tempted to fire a lot of risky and 

 ineffectual shots at long range and without taking 



