362 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTEAL INDIA 



in disgust. Less than a hundred yards from the pathway, 

 however, the great stag lay perfectly dead, shot through 

 the middle of the shoulder. I afterwards acquired com- 

 plete confidence in this weapon, and killed a far larger 

 percentage of the animals I fired at than I had ever accom- 

 phshed with any other. On one occasion I shot three out 

 of a herd of five Chikara antelopes running across me, the 

 nearest being over a hundred yards. This httle creature 

 ofiers an extremely small mark to fire at, and these were 

 fairly struck in the shoulder. I could not have done such 

 work as this with any other rifle of my acquaintance. 



These small bores, however, have not been found so 

 effective for destroying the larger animals, such as tigers, 

 bufialoes, bison, etc., the small fragments into which the 

 bullets are broken up not possessing sufficient penetrative 

 power to reach the vitals. It is a great object, too, with 

 these large and dangerous animals to break the large bones, 

 so as to cripple them at once and prevent accidents; and 

 this the small Express, with its very hollow bullet, is quite 

 unable to efiect. The bone-brealdng and penetrative 

 power of these bullets can, however, be much increased by 

 diminishing, or altogether omitting, the hollow in the point. 

 A good many elephants have been killed by the dead 

 shot, with the smaller gauge, using solid hardened pro- 

 jectiles ; and the larger rifle, with a short hollow, has been 

 effectively used against tigers and bears. Much of the 

 shock to the system, caused by the spreading of the hollow 

 bullet, is of course lost if a solid ball be employed. 



The next advantage of the Express system, where it is 

 suitable as regards killing power, is the very flat trajectory 

 at sporting ranges obtained by the use of a fight ball and 

 heavy charge of powder. Two sizes of the small Express 

 are now made : the smaller, -450 of an inch, having a charge 

 of nearly four drachms, and the larger, '500, shooting 

 five drachms of powder. The first gives a perfectly point- 

 blank range of a hundred and sixty yards, with an extreme 

 effective range of two hundred and fifty ; the latter a poiat 

 blank of rather more than two hundred, and an extreme 

 of four hundred. They both shoot with extreme accuracy 

 at these ranges. The smaller weighs seven and a half 



