lOO 



CHAPTER XVI. 



WEAPONS. 



On thinking over this episode, in fact, not only this 

 one, but several other similar rencontres, I came to 

 the conclusion that the weapons we used were not 

 suitable for killing large game, for that they often 

 caused protracted suffering, which could be avoided 

 by the employment of larger bored guns and much 

 heavier charges of powder. This theory I have 

 since those days put into practice and have proved 

 to be correct. At the date on which this is published, 

 after many years of experience, I consider an 8-bore 

 the most desirable weapon for shooting the mam- 

 moths of creation, but then everyone cannot use with 

 comfort so heavy a weapon, for it must be massively 

 constructed so as to admit of very strong charges 

 being used out of it ; next to it of course would come 

 a io-bore. It is questionable whether a smaller 

 weapon should ever be used for slaying the largest 

 game. In olden days the Boer shot them with a 

 roer ; they generally took bullets of four to the pound, 

 but were always single-barrelled ; however much of 

 the recoil that might have been expected from so 

 formidable a weapon was avoided by the indifference 

 of the quality of the explosive power at that period 



