BREECH-LOADING GUNS. 123 



over any kind of country with my wigwam 

 and ammunition. Taken to pieces, it all 

 packs on one mule. This " rib- tickler," as 

 a Yankee sportsman called it, was built for 

 me about three years ago for service in Central 

 Africa, and it is a most formidable arm either 

 against rnan or beast. It burns twelve drachms 

 of powder, and throws a cylindro-conical bullet 

 weighing half-a-pound, or a shell. 



Breech-loading one- or two-pounder guns, 

 mounted on such carriages, would be very ser- 

 viceable on service in the field, as those con- 

 structed by Mr. Whitworth, of Manchester, make 

 excellent practice with shot and shell at 2000 

 yards ; and with a dozen of such pieces, I would 

 undertake to silence all the artillery of King 

 Theodore. They are superior to rockets, which 

 I class in the same category with t( dollar" trade 

 guns made for the African market as dan- 

 gerous to the man who fires them as to the party 

 who is shot at. Their course is so erratic, and 



