8o 



THROUGH JUNGLE AND DESERT 



CHAP. 



But one more word upon the subject of rifles and I 

 have done. There has always been a vast deal of talk 

 about "shock," and not only of its value in stopping 

 the rush of large animals, such as elephants and rhi- 

 noceroses, but also of the means to adopt in order to 

 ensure this quality in a rifle. I am afraid that I must 

 frankly state that I am not an ardent believer in shock, 

 at least as produced by a weapon which one is capable 

 of carrying in one s hands. Even the smallest bullet, 

 provided it is possessed of sufficient penetration when 

 directed against a nerve centre such as the brain or 

 spine, will produce the same shock as a cannon-ball. 

 But if the bullet does not strike a nerve centre, even 

 though a four-bore and propelled by fifteen drams of 

 powder, it will not give sufficient shock to either the 

 rhinoceros, which weighs about two tons, or the ele- 

 phant, which weighs in many cases five tons, to stun 

 or disable it. 



To my mind, " shock " is a gun-maker's phrase. A 

 man of average weight, at a shooting ground, upon 

 the discharge of an eight-bore, or even a .577 express, 

 having felt against his shoulder the recoil of one of 

 these heavily charged weapons, is in a fit frame of 

 mind to absorb with facility and credulity the theory 

 of shock, as expounded by the merchants desirous of 

 selling him an expensive express rifle. 



In one word : As speed is the most necessary qual- 

 ity in a race-horse, so is accuracy the first requisite of 

 a rifle ; provided that, when used against big game it 

 is possessed of sufficient penetrative quality. This 

 cjuality cannot be measured at a shooting ground by 

 a comparison of the size or depth of holes made in a 



