66 MANUAL FOR YOUNG SPORTSMEN. 
no person is likely to come in contact with their work, un- 
less he casually visit the spot of their operations, and be 
tempted of his own choice to purchase. It is needless, 
therefore, to consider these. 
Below a hundred dollars I would counsel no man to 
buy an imported gun. There is a sort of gun, manufac- 
tured even by the best London makers, called a game- 
keeper’s gun, at £15 sterling, or 75 dollars, entirely plain, 
without engraving or any external finish. The locks are 
sound, well-working, and perfectly finished, though desti- 
tute of course of the last exquisite sharpness, smoothness 
and ring, which at once speak for the first-rate gun. The 
barrels are stub-twist, and may be relied on for solidity, 
safety, and excellent performance. I shot with one of 
these guns, in 1849, during a tour on the Great Lakes, 
and, though it had not certainly much beauty to brag of, 
it executed beautifully and at long ranges, and was pro- 
nounced by “ Dincks,” a very competent judge, the best 
low-priced gun, and the cheapest gun, he ever saw. At 
my advice, a small number of these guns was sent out 
hither, for sale, at the lowest possible price; that is to say 
without any importer’s profit, commissions or the like; and 
those of them which found purchasers, gave the greatest 
satisfaction. Their unpretending appearance, however, 
the incompetency of buyers to distinguish their real su- 
periority to the lacquered trash of the Birmingham hard- 
waremen, and above all, the interested opposition of the 
vendors of such trumpery—who caused them to be written 
down by hireling scribblers, principally in the country 
presses, though some of their lucubrations found their way 
