444 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTEAL INDIA. 



to throw down the little rifle in disgust. Less than a hun- 

 dred yards from the pathway, however, the great stag lay 

 perfectly dead, shot through the middle of the shoulder. I 

 afterwards acquired complete confidence in this weapon, and 

 killed a far larger percentage of the animals I fired at than I 

 had ever accomplished with any other. On one occasion I 

 shot three out of a herd of five Chikara" antelopes running 

 across me, the nearest being over a hundred yards. This little 

 creature offers an extremely small mark to fire at, and these 

 were fairly struck in the shoulder. I could not have done 

 such work as this with any other rifle of my acquaintance. 



These small bores, however, have not been found so effective 

 for destroying the larger animals, such as tigers, buffaloes, bison, 

 etc., the small fragments into which the bullets are broken up 

 not possessing sufficient penetrative power to reach the vitals. 

 It is a great object, too, with these large and dangerous animals 

 to break the large bones, so as to cripple them at once and 

 prevent accidents ; and this the small Express, with its very 

 hollow bullet, is quite unable to effect. The bone-breaking 

 and penetrative power of these bullets can, however, be much 

 increased by diminishing, or altogether omitting, the hollow 

 in the point. A good many elephants have been killed dead, 

 by the head shot, with the smaller gauge, using solid hardened 

 projectiles ; and the larger rifle, with a short hollow, has been 

 effectively used against tigers and bears. Much of the shock 

 to the system caused by the spreading of the hollow bullet is 

 of course lost if a solid ball be employed. 



The next advantage of the Express system, where it is 

 suitable as regards killing power, is the very flat trajectory at 

 sporting ranges obtained by the use of a light ball and heavy 

 charge of powder. Two sizes of the small Express are now 

 made, the smaller, *450 of an inch, having a charge of nearly 



