104 SHOT. 



with Lancaster, and every other first-rate barrel -borer 

 in doing execution at enormous distances. He must 

 however be content with a fair living profit, and regu- 

 late his price accordingly; as almost any one could 

 make these cartridges, to use the modern vulgar 

 tongue, " on the sly." But I beg pardon ; I am in- 

 truding on my readers too much of the history, instead 

 of the quality, of the patent cartridge. Let me then 

 direct my observations to the more useful part of the 

 subject. The rock on which Mr. Eley's patent at first 

 became wrecked was this : he made his wire a great 

 deal too stiff, and his meshes too small ; and the conse- 

 quence was, that every now and then, the cartridge 

 either flew, like a ball, in one solid body, or left so 

 much of the charge in one end of the cage as to have 

 an effect equally dangerous ; and nearly as uncertain 

 for correct shooting. But at last he became convinced 

 of what I repeatedly stated to him, and sent me some 

 cartridges that I tried all last season ; and, for long 

 distances, they surpassed any thing I could possibly 

 have expected. They killed birds quite dead at distances 

 that it would have been folly to fire at with a common 

 charge; and when applied to wildfowl guns, they proved, 

 as I always predicted, the most useful invention in 

 existence. He made some with mould shot, which were 

 a decided failure. But those with patent shot, and par- 

 ticularly the small shot, were fired through the season 

 without once " balling." But I found it necessary to 

 take aim lower with the patent cartridge ; because it 

 keeps rising in the same ratio with the cylinder of the 

 gun ; instead of falling, from its gravity, to the point- 

 blank object. In shot for LONG SHOTS, either in a wild 

 open country, or shooting by day at wildfowl, I cannot 



