Appendix 295 



if acquired by heavy charges of powder, means the 

 sacrifice of accuracy. Similarly, solid and hollow 

 pointed bullets have, respectively, their merits and 

 demerits. There is no use of dogmatizing about 

 weapons. Some which prove excellent for particu- 

 lar countries and kinds of hunting are useless in 

 others. 



There seems to be no doubt, judging from the 

 testimony of sportsmen in South Africa and in In- 

 dia, that very heavy calibre double-barreled rifles 

 are best for use in the dense jungles and against the 

 thick-hided game of those regions; but they are of 

 very little value with us. In 1882, one of the buffalo 

 hunters on the Little Missouri obtained from some 

 Englishman a double-barreled ten-bore rifle of the 

 kind used against rhinoceros, buffalo, and elephant 

 in the Old World ; but it proved very inferior to the 

 40 and 45-calibre Sharps' buffalo guns when used 

 under the conditions of American buffalo hunting, 

 the tremendous shock given by the bullet not com- 

 pensating for the gun's great relative deficiency in 

 range and accuracy, while even the penetration was 

 inferior at ordinary distances. It is largely also 

 a matter of individual taste. At one time I pos- 

 sessed a very expensive double-barreled 500 Ex- 

 press, by one of the crack English makers; but I 



