THE DUCHESS OF ORLEANS. 361 



to me. The duchess, who had kept silent through the whole 

 scene, drew the boy to her knee, and covered him with kisses 

 and tears. 



Before I left Paris I received from M. Adolphe d' Houde- 

 tot, a superb rifle, that he had ordered made bv Devisme, 

 expressly for the chase of the lion. 



This remarkable gun had two chambered barrels twenty-five 

 and one-half inches in length. The bore was of number 

 fifty-two gauge, cut with a progressive twist like the carbines 

 of the Chasseurs of Vincennes. The manner of loading it 

 is the same. The ball is conical in shape, and pointed with 

 steel for about half its length. This gives it great power of 

 penetration, and it will pierce the hardest substances. The 

 rifle weighed seven pounds and twelve ounces. 



At the same time Devisme gave me a beautiful double 

 edge poniard of pure steel, with a blade a foot long, and a 

 hand's breadth in width. In his turn Mooutier Lepage gave 

 me a double barrel rifle, as carefully finished as the other, and 

 made expressly for my use. It was twenty-two inches in 

 length, of number sixty-two gauge, and of the same pattern 

 as has since been chosen for the Hundred Guards of his 

 majesty the emperor. The nine spiral grooves make one 

 turn in twenty-seven and one-half inches, and the ball is 

 cylindrical conical, and weighs two hundred and twenty- 

 five grains. 



When I tried these guns for the first time with Monseiur 

 Devisme and Monsieur Lepage, either in their galleries or at 

 Vincennes, I was astonished at their power of penetration. 

 The ball with a steel point pierced a cast iron plate a 

 third of an inch in thickness, while the leaden bullet pierced 

 an oak plank nine inches thick. With these weapons, the 

 best that could be made for lion hunting, I returned to Africa 

 in the year 1848 to resume my old course of life, that seemed 

 to me the pleasanter from its contrast to Parisian gaieties. 



16 



