The eland, buffalo, rhinoceros, giraffe, and elephant 

 are, on the contrary, more massive animals ; and the 

 expansive bullet being insufficient because of the 

 thickness of the flesh and bone, the solid bullet is 

 used. Some sportsmen recommend that a third part 

 of tin or a fifth part of mercury be added to the lead 

 to increase its hardness. What is the good ? For 

 my part, I have always left the lead in its natural 

 state ; it crushes the better for it, and penetrates 

 admirably the hide of elephants or rhinoceroses, in 

 spite of the statement that it is impossible to cut those 

 animals' skins. The solid bullet of ordinary lead shot 

 from a modern rifle, as, for example, the express, passes 

 right through. The statement that the hide is impene- 

 trable is a legend to be relegated to a museum of 

 curiosities with the explosive bullet, with the belief in 

 the protected and impenetrable scales of the crocodile, 

 with the phosphorescent eye of the lion, an eye which 

 glistens in the obscurity like a bicycle lamp. It is also 

 to the human imagination that we owe the idea that 

 the lion can jump over a wall with a calf in its mouth; 

 it is to the imagination that we owe the theory of 

 certain sportsmen on the method of proceeding to see 

 his sight, and to take aim on a dark night when on 

 horseback with sufficient precision to shoot animals 

 like the rhinoceros right in the eye. The eye of the 

 rhinoceros is, as we know, very small. 



As to diamond sights, telescopic sights, or others 

 more or less extraordinary which imaginative gun- 

 smiths invent at every moment, the only object 

 which they reach is, most certainly, the pocket of the 



