of the Old World. 495 



spare guns to men of whom he knows nothing, who 

 may be tempted to decamp with them not a very 

 unfrequent occurrence.* Sixthly, it is a great annoy- 

 ance to a tired sportsman, after a hard day's fag, to have 

 to clean four or five double guns and rifles, which task 

 he dare not entrust his followers to perform, as there 

 are times when a miss-fire might be attended with the 

 most serious consequences. Happily for the sports- 

 man of the present day, all these disagreeable contin- 

 gencies may now be avoided by making use of rifles 

 on the breech-loading system. Now, independent of 

 gun-bearers, he may roam through the forest alone, 

 careless as to what animal he may meet, for he knows 

 that, should his first shots not take deadly effect, he 

 can reload in the twinkling of an eye, and keep up a 

 running fire, against which nothing can stand, instead 

 of having to bolt under cover to reload (in case a 

 spare gun is not at hand), returning breathless, and 

 often with unsteady hand, from having to use sheer 

 force in jamming an obstinate ball down a foul barrel. 

 When mounted, a rifle on the breech-loading system 

 has immense advantages, as it can be easily reloaded, 

 without in any way interfering with the management 

 of the horse ; whereas with the old muzzle-loader the 

 sportsman was entirely powerless whilst drawing his 

 ramrod and ramming home the bullet. He who has 



* Lieutenant Rice, of the Bombay army, lost all his guns in 

 this manner. 



