THE GUN, AND HOW TO USE IT. 121 



from the muzzle with a ramrod ; and that, either when 

 thus or otherwise loaded, it can be capped by the hand, 

 precisely after the manner of any other variety of the 

 firelock. 



With the cartridge, hand-capped, it can be fired delib- 

 erately five or six times in the minute ; and I should think, 

 though I have never tried it, three or four times, if not 

 more, with loose ammunition. 



If these, however, were the only recommendations of 

 this arm, it would have been needless to waste words 

 upon it, as applicable to sporting purposes. But it has 

 another unrivalled superiority to any fire-arm I have ever 

 seen its range and power of penetration. 



The small-calibre gun, of which I have spoken, does its 

 work tellingly and killingly at ranges which used to be 

 considered impossible, three and four hundred yards' dis- 

 tance. But the short cavalry carbines of 22 or 24-inch 

 barrel carry a round ball of ^ oz. and an acorn-shaped 

 one of twice the weight, which does fearful execution at 

 500 paces. I have seen a round ball, from one of these 

 short pieces, pierce two three-inch wet oak planks, at a 

 foot distance asunder, and then bury itself, eight inches 

 deep, in the body of a tulip tree. 



The military rifle of the same pattern with a ball of 

 about f oz. round, ^ oz. conical, has been proved capable 

 of striking the size of a horse at the enormous distance of 

 1400 yards, and with a force as fatal as its range and 

 accuracy are tremendous. 



Tried before a military board in Canada, against the 

 Minie rifle, it beat that queen of weapons, as it has been 

 6 



