202 BIG GAME SHOOTING 



charge savagely at his pursuers, and unless the hunter 

 is well prepared and can stop the charge by a bullet 

 of sufficient smashing power, he may find himself in 

 a very tight corner indeed. When coming straight 

 on, the beast is by no means easy to get a fair shot at. 

 The horns are laid back, and the nose held out in 

 such a position that the brain is difficult, nay, almost 

 impossible, to reach with the bullet. The heart and 

 lungs can be penetrated if the hunter is kneeling ; 

 but it is to be remembered that even this is, from 

 the shortness of the animal's legs, a by no means 

 easy shot, and that, when hit, the buffalo is one of 

 the most tenacious of life of all African beasts of 

 chase. Even if the bullet be a heavy one and the 

 shot fatal, the animal may yet make good its charge 

 and badly injure its assailant. 



For this reason experienced hunters, even . if 

 they use small-bore rifles upon other kinds of game, 

 prefer, when thus following up a buffalo in thick 

 bush, to be armed with a rifle of heavy calibre 

 .10, .8, or even a .4- bore. Few gunners of 

 the present day, however, care to be encumbered 

 with so heavy and punishing a piece as the .4~bore ; 

 and although Mr. F. J. Jackson has, in com- 

 paratively recent years, still made use of one of 

 these weapons, not many hunters will care to follow 

 his example. A double .8 or .10 bore is good 

 enough for the purpose. Personally, I believe that 

 one of the new smokeless-powder rifles of smallish 

 bore, .400 or .450, delivering, as I have said, an 

 impact of tremendous smashing force, is good 



