356 THE ELEPHANT. 



When shooting elephants, or other large game, in 

 the night season, it may be proper to add, the 

 sportsman will do well to affix a piece of white 

 paper, or fine rag, to the muzzle of his gun, and 

 secure it with a thin white thread behind the 

 " sight." He should then raise the paper, or 

 the rag, as the case may be, slightly in front ; 

 that is, nearest to the muzzle, in which position 

 it is to be kept by introducing a small twig, 

 or thick straw, beneath and on either side of the 

 " sight." If the paper lies flat on the barrel, 

 nothing is gained. When levelling the gun, let the 

 muzzle be sufficiently raised to enable you to catch 

 a full view of the paper, and then gradually lower it 

 until the paper is lost to view ; having thus got the 

 elevation of the object, pull the trigger. It requires, 

 however, some practice before a person can become 

 a tolerable night-shot. 



The dangers attendant on night-shooting are, as 

 we have seen, not slight; but, independent of the 

 chance of being impaled on the tusk of the elephant 

 or the horn of the rhinoceros, the risk one incurs 

 from the lion is, as I have elsewhere said, not in- 

 considerable. To say nothing of the two occasions 

 when, as has been mentioned, those beasts stealthily 

 approached to within a few paces of my place of 

 concealment, with the intention, as I firmly believe, 

 of making a meal of me, numbers of men, when lying 

 in wait for large game during the hours of darkness, 

 are carried off by those animals. An instance of the 

 kind came under the immediate notice of my friend 

 Green, who, in a letter to me, says : 



