300 BIG GAME 



bullet-pierced skin of a lion spread out for inspection 

 before the brother of the man whom it had killed the 

 instant after it received its death-wound. But fatal 

 accidents are increasingly rare in modern big-game 

 shooting. The rifles are accurate, not too heavy, and 

 frightfully destructive ; and very many of the noted 

 big-game hunters are marvellous shots. Those who 

 doubt it should watch the shooting of such great 

 hunters as Mr. Littledale or Sir E. G. Loder when 

 firing double shots at the ' running deer ' at Bisley, 

 and putting, not once, but twice, thrice, or four times, 

 two bullets, right and left, into a moving target no 

 larger than a breakfast plate. Fortunately for the big- 

 game hunter, there are new regions opening out for him 

 even now. There is every reason to believe that one or 

 these will offer almost the finest sport, and of the most 

 satisfactory kind yet found, except, perhaps, in the 

 days of the early lion-hunters in South Africa. The 

 scene is the valley of the Upper Amoor, and its great 

 tributary the Ussuri. On the former, bear, boar, and 

 the magnificent maral stag abound, in some of the most 

 beautiful scenery, and one of the best climates, in the 

 world. The Lower Amoor is l feverish/ except in 

 winter ; but the valley of the Ussuri river, which joins 

 the Amoor at the point where the latter turns due 

 north, and forms the boundary between Chinese 

 Manchuria and the Russian coast province, holds 



