RIFLES AND AMMUNITION 187 



usually it means that a man has to go ahead 

 with a 'dah,' lopping down overhanging bamboo 

 and other obstructions. This makes a noise and 

 wastes time, and before long jungle is entered 

 in which riding is impossible. So that after 

 reaching one's ground it is as well to send the 

 pony back at once. 



When going after elephants I invariably ride 

 till the herd is located, and then keep the pony in 

 some convenient spot about a quarter of a mile 

 away. It is now at hand, either to ride back to 

 camp on after the shot, or to follow the herd if it 

 moves off. This is possible in the dry zone owing 

 to lack of heavy jungle, thick patches of cover 

 being found only at considerable intervals. 



As to rifles, the writer believes implicitly in 

 a D.B. -450-*400 high-velocity rifle taking the 

 equivalent of sixty grains of cordite in axite, 

 and a 400-grains bullet. With this rifle elephants, 

 bison and tsaing have been shot in the densest 

 cover and in the open alike. It has now been 

 in use for several years, and during that time it 

 has not lost its owner a single big beast fired at. 

 Generally one, or at most two, bullets have been 

 sufficient to account for the biggest animals ; but 

 I have had occasionally to give a beast as many 

 as half a dozen shots before finally securing him. 

 This, however, has been under exceptional circum- 

 stances, when either the denseness of the jungle 

 or the failing light has prevented an accurate 



