202 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE. 



men armed with bell-mouthed smooth-bores, having 

 a barrel seven feet long, and a straight stock with a 

 crutch-end to fit round the shoulder. It takes three 

 men to fire off such a piece. A forked stick is first 

 planted in the ground, and on this the barrel rests. 

 One man places the crutch-end against his shoulder 

 and aims, while a second plants himself immediately 

 behind, back to back, as a buttress against the 

 recoil. A third stands on one side and blows vigor- 

 ously at the match, and the first brings it down into 

 the pan by means of a rude kind of trigger. The 

 animal is supposed to stand still while all these 

 varied operations are going on ! Then there is a 

 fizz-fizz-fizz bang ! And after the volumes of 

 smoke have cleared away, the two men behind the 

 barrel, who have been sent sprawling by the recoil, 

 pick themselves up, carefully search for the gun, 

 which will be lying somewhere about, and then set 

 out to see the effects of the shot. If by chance an 

 animal has been shot, great is the jubilation. The 

 aimer at once takes rank among the Raja's follow- 

 ing as a marksman. u If a janwar (wild animal) is 

 shot by one of my men it seldom survives," said 

 the Raja ; and I can well believe this, for two large 

 handfuls of locally manufactured powder and several 

 murderous-looking slugs form the usual charge of 

 one of these match-locks. Since the opening of the 

 railway the fine sal forests of the valley and the 

 supposed mineral wealth of the State have been the 

 means of increasing the Raja's armoury with speci- 

 mens of most kinds of modern small arms. Re- 

 volvers, rim and central fire ; smooth bores ; rifles . 



