14 WILD BEASTS AND THEIR WAYS CHAP. 



all danger, lie may amuse himself by comparing the success of his 

 shooting with the hollow Express or with the solid bullet at the 

 animals that pass within his range, which means a limit of about 

 50 yards. I contend that at the short distance named, a tiger 

 should never escajx! from a solid bullet ; he often escapes from the 

 hollow bullet for several reasons. 



It must be remembered that animals are rarely seen distinctly 

 in a thick jungle, countless twigs and foliage intercept the bullet, 

 and the view, although patent to both open eyes, becomes misty 

 and obscure when you shut one eye and squint along the barrel. 

 You then discover that although you can see the dim shadow of 

 your game, your bullet will have to cut its way through at least 

 twenty twigs before it can reach its goal. A solid bullet may 

 deflect slightly, but it will generally deliver its message direct, 

 unless the opposing objects are more formidable than ordinary 

 small branches. A hollow bullet from an Express rifle will fly 

 into fragments should it strike a twig the size of the little finger. 

 This is quite sufficient to condemn the hollow projectile without 

 any further argument. 



While writing the above, I have received the Pioneer, 24th 

 June 1888, which gives the following account of an escape from a 

 tiger a few weeks ago by Mr. Cuthbert Fraser, and no better 

 example could be offered to prove the danger of a hollow bullet. 

 It will be seen that a solid bullet would have killed the tiger on 

 the spot, as it would have penetrated to the brain, instead of 

 which it broke into -the usual fragments when striking the hard 

 substance of the teeth, and merely destroyed one eye. The bullet 

 evidently splashed up without breaking the jaw, as the wounded 

 animal was not only capable of killing the orderly, but Mr. Fraser 

 " heard, in fact, the crunching of the man's bones." He says 

 " that he felt that he had the tiger dead when he fired, but the 

 Express bullet unfortunately broke up." He had fired the left- 

 hand barrel into the tiger's chest without the slightest result in 

 checking the onset ; had that been a solid bullet it would have 

 l>enetrated to the heart or lungs. 



ADVENTURE WITH A TIGER. 



The following experience of a sportsman in the Deccan is from 

 the Secunderabad paper of 14th June 1888 : 



"Mr. Cuthbert Fraser had a most miraculous escape from a tiger the 

 other day at Amraoti. The lucky hero of this adventure is a District 

 Superintendent of Police in licrur. lie is well remembered in Secundera- 



