74 BREECH-LOADERS. 



man who fires and reloads in a howdah, moving 

 and shaking from the motion of the elephant ! 



24. What an advantage to the elephant-hunter 

 in South Africa, who is obliged to load and fire 

 from his horse's back ; having to keep his eye 

 perhaps on an infuriated wounded animal, to look 

 out for obstructions in his path, and to reload his 

 discharged piece. 



25. How often in the field does the noise of 

 ramming down a tight wad, whilst reloading the 

 ordinary gun, put up birds on all sides, who thus 

 get away, to the sportsman's disgust ! Not so 

 with the breech-loader. What an advantage being 

 able to load without noise is to the snipe- shooter, 

 who often, after a hard day's blank fag, arrives 

 on small insulated patches of grass alive with 

 snipe, where he may perhaps fire a dozen shots 

 without moving a single pace, and when every 

 slightest movement and noise, caused by reloading, 

 puts up dozens of birds all round, whom he has 

 the mortification of hearing call " Scape, scape ! " 

 as they collect in clouds and soar away. When 



