chap. ii. RHINOCEROS. 113 



is expended on the first serious opposition it encounters. 

 Should that chance to be strong enough to resist the 

 shock, the bullet merely flattens itself, as it would against 

 an iron target ; though the stunning effect of such a blow 

 is far greater than that caused by a hardened ball, a fact 

 that has been discovered through game dropping more 

 frequently to such a shot than when a better prepared 

 missile has been used. When, however, the resistance 

 offered is not so great, and the bone gives way, the smash 

 that takes place is something wonderful. The flattened 

 ball breaks up into innumerable fragments, which, by 

 some unknown law of attraction, adhere to the bone, 

 along which they run, rending and splitting it, until the 

 ultimate result is very much the same as would be pro- 

 duced by a shell bursting. Of course, in such a case, the 

 ball goes no further, and, though the animal is maimed, 

 it is not vitally wounded. Firing unhardened bullets, as 

 far as rhinoceros, hippopotamus, and elephants are con- 

 cerned, is mere trifling — it may possibly amuse you, but 

 it certainly cannot hurt them, — and even with buffalo, it 

 will probably cause you to lose three-quarters of all those 

 you may wound ; though, on the other hand, it is decidedly 

 to be preferred for lions, tigers, leopards, panthers, and 

 such like animals, on account of the stunning and dis- 

 abling nature of the blow on such comparatively small 

 bones. There is a story told of an African native hunter, 

 who affirmed that his soft lead bullet had rebounded from 

 a rhinoceros's hide, and struck him in the face ; and 

 though perhaps this may be too gross an exaggeration to 

 have ever obtained credence, yet some such idea was for 

 a long time believed in, and even at the present day it is 



H 



