"| > BAST 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, ie. 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 
a circumstances in the open, have had little or no experience 
_ with big and dangerous game. Approaching a beast which is 
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