30 BIG GAME SHOOTING 



Africa. I took the greatest care of this gun, and entrusted it 

 to a very dependable follower throughout my expedition of 

 more than four years. Although I returned the gun in good 

 condition, the ramrod was lost during a great emergency. My 

 man (a native) was attacked, and being mobbed during the act 

 of loading, he was obliged to fire at the most prominent assailant 

 before he had time to withdraw his ramrod. This passed 

 through the attacker's body, and was gone beyond hope of 

 recovery. 



There could not have been a better form of muzzle-loader 

 than this No. 10 double-barrel smooth-bore. It was very 

 accurate at fifty yards, and the recoil was trifling with the con- 

 siderable charge of six drams of powder. This could be in- 

 creased if necessary, but Oswell always remained satisfied, and 

 condemned himself, but not his gun, whenever a shot was un- 

 satisfactory. He frequently assured me that, although he seldom 

 fired at a female elephant, one bullet was sufficient to kill, and 

 generally two bullets for a large bull of the same species. 



Unlike Gordon Gumming, who was accustomed to fire at 

 seventy and eighty yards, Oswell invariably strove to obtain 

 the closest quarters with elephants, and all other game. To this 

 system he owed his great success, as he could make certain 

 of a mortal point. At the same time the personal risk was 

 much increased, as the margin for escape was extremely limited 

 when attacking dangerous game at so short a distance as ten 

 or fifteen paces. When Oswell hunted in South Africa, the 

 sound of a rifle had never disturbed the solitudes in districts 

 which are now occupied by settlers. The wild animals have 

 now yielded up their territory to domestic sheep and cattle ; 

 such are the rapid transitions within half a century ! In those 

 days the multitudes of living creatures at certain seasons and 

 localities surpassed the bounds of imagination ; they stretched 

 in countless masses from point to point of the horizon, and 

 devoured the pasturage like a devastating flight of locusts. 

 Whether they have been destroyed, or whether they have 

 migrated to far distant sanctuaries, it is impossible to determine ; 



