Sir Samuel Mbitc iJBafeer s 6 ? 



track of the herd and killed four of them, two with 

 a right and left shot from his double rifle. In five 

 days Baker bagged thirty-one elephants, and his 

 biggest bag for a single day was fourteen ! 



In his savage state the elephant is as courageous 

 as he is ferocious, but when tamed, though he retains 

 his ferocity, it is often combined with extreme cowardice 

 and a tendency to panic. Baker gives several re- 

 markable instances of this strange combination of 

 qualities, as illustrated in tiger-shooting, for which I 

 must refer the reader to his two enthralling books 

 " Rifle and Hound in Ceylon " and " Wild Beasts and 

 their Ways." 



For all animals above the size of a fallow deer and 

 below that of a buffalo Baker's favourite weapon was 

 the '577 Express, with a solid bullet of 638 grains, and 

 a charge of 6 drams of powder. It was on the solidity 

 of the bullet that he laid most stress, and his remarks 

 on this subject are worth quoting : 



" I have seen in a life's experiences the extraordinary 

 vagaries of rifle bullets, and for close ranges of 20 

 yards, there is nothing, in my opinion, superior to the 

 old spherical hardened bullet, with a heavy charge of 

 powder. The friction is minimised, the velocity is 

 accordingly increased, and the hard round bullet neither 

 deflects nor alters its form, but it cuts through inter- 

 vening branches and goes direct to its aim, breaking 

 bones and keeping a straight course through the animal. 

 This means death. 



At the same time it must be remembered that a 

 577 rifle may be enabled to perform wonders by 



