322 RIFLE AND ROMANCE 



of the thinly-veiled opposition of his native subordinates, 

 that he could not resist a jeer at our estimation of Jhoot 

 Singh's character ; and so gave away, in the rash heat of 

 his pique, not only the real nature of that worthy, but also 

 the fact that he himself was not unacquainted with the 

 object of his mission in our camp ! 



An amusing correspondence, published in the Times of 

 India in December 1900, concerning certain Christmas 

 shooting camps, seems to indicate that such jealousies are 

 not necessarily restricted to any particular locality. 



India being the last country in which such degeneracy 

 of habit may be safely indulged in by public officials, it is 

 incumbent on the shooting public to apply what antidotes 

 they can, and lose no opportunity of assisting such fallen 

 countrymen to recognise and correct the narrow-minded 

 ways into which they have fallen, owing no doubt to a 

 too long and intimate contact with native idiosyncrasies. 

 But the means employed in dealing with these fortunately 

 rare cases will necessarily have to be as subtle as the evil 

 it is intended to counteract. 



Within the last five years a notable change has taken 

 place in the big-game sportsman's weapons, which sug- 

 gests a subject too interesting to pass by without some 

 brief notice. 



This is the passing of the black-powder rifle, both of the 

 " Express " and large-bore type, and the genesis of the 

 cordite rifle of medium bore. 



Up to about ten years ago sportsmen used either the 

 large-bore rifle (or ball gun) or the express rifle, both with 

 black powder. About that period it was discovered that 

 the new military small-bore rifles possessed wonderful 

 powers, when used with a suitable bullet, and these rifles so 

 deservedly engaged the enthusiasm of many sportsmen 

 that they emerged triumphantly from all kinds of troubles 

 occasioned by faulty, smokeless " powders " and unsuitable 



