EAST AFRICA 155 



the last few years, been visited by European sportsmen. In 

 these places, particularly in the district round Kilimanjaro, 

 and in the vicinity of well-beaten caravan routes to the interior, 

 the game has naturally become more cunning and more diffi- 

 cult to approach than it used to be. Little or nothing has ever 

 been done or can be done in East Africa without patience 

 and perseverance, and perhaps the pursuit of big game in that 

 country will test these virtues more than anything else. Dis- 

 appointments in such a country are, of course, numerous, and 

 some of them are unavoidable, but there are others which might 

 be avoided by the exercise of a little patience and knowledge. 



First among the matters requiring the sportman's conside- 

 ration is his battery. 



Without entering into the details of the merits and demerits 

 of the different rifles and their respective charges, about which 

 so much has been written, I strongly recommend sportsmen 

 intending to visit East Africa to arm themselves on the 

 principle that a big beast, and more particularly a dangerous 

 one, requires a heavy bullet, and the great shock such a bullet 

 gives to the system, to disable or kill it, and not to allow them- 

 selves to be carried away with the idea that a '450 Express 

 bullet is good enough for anything. There is no doubt what- 

 ever that the very largest and toughest of game can be killed 

 by a "450 or '500 Express, and there are several well-known 

 and very experienced sportsmen who use nothing else. But as 

 it is more than probable that the majority of those men who 

 use, and advocate the use of, small rifles for all kinds of big 

 game used heavy rifles when they first began, and while learn- 

 ing by experience what they now know of the habits of the 

 beasts, their anatomy, and their most vital spots, I should 

 recommend beginners to use what these experienced hunters 

 began with, i.e. heavy rifles for big game. This chapter is 

 written more particularly for sportsmen who, though they may 

 be excellent shots, and possessed of good nerve under ordinary 

 circumstances in the open, have had little or no experience 

 with big and dangerous game. Approaching a beast which is 



