BOER MARKSMANSHIP. 239 



a certain amount of skill in the use of guns, 

 although very few could claim to be really good 

 shots. 



Upon the whole, however, it may fairly be 

 conceded that a formidable amount of aggregate 

 skill in the use of their weapons was a noticeable 

 characteristic of the Boers of the period I allude 

 to (say twenty years ago), and at the time of the 

 Boer war with us all the middle-aged men, and a 

 good many of the youngsters, were as a rule, and 

 as compared with trained soldiers, very efficient 

 shots and formidable as guerillas, not only on 

 account of their marksmanship, but from the 

 possession of that skill in choosing positions, and 

 taking advantage of every chance offered, which 

 is acquired by all hunters sooner or later, but is 

 hardly susceptible of being taught on systematic 

 lines to large bodies of men. 



While the game lasted in the Transvaal, every 

 hale man was more or less a hunter, and the 

 majority of the burghers lapsed into poverty, very 

 nearly approaching absolute pauperism, when about 

 seventeen or eighteen years ago the game herds 

 were no longer numerous enough to be profitably 

 exploited. 



