22 
WILD BEASTS AND THEIR WA YS 
CHAP. 
solid bullet of pure lead, or with a Paradox bullet if 
ounces hard metal and \\ drams of powder. This 
very large bullet is sufficiently formidable to require 
no expansion. 
Gunmakers will not advise the use of pure lead 
for bullets, as it is apt to foul the barrel by its 
extreme softness, which leaves a coating of the metal 
upon the surface of the rifling. For military pur¬ 
poses this objection would hold good, but so few 
shots are fired at game during the day, that no dis¬ 
advantage could accrue, and the rifle would of course 
be cleaned every evening. 
The accidents which unfortunately so often 
happen to the hunters of dangerous game may 
generally be traced to the defect in the rifles 
employed. If a shooter wishes to amuse himself 
in Scotland among the harmless red deer, let him 
try any experiments that may please him ; but if he 
is a man like so many who leave the shores of 
Great Britain for the wild jungles of the East, or of 
Africa, let him at once abjure hollow bullets if he 
seeks dangerous game. Upon this subject I press 
my opinion, as I feel the immense responsibility of 
advice should any calamity occur. It is only 
a few months since the lamented Mr. Ingram 
was killed by an elephant in the Somali country, 
through using a *450 Express hollow bullet 
against an animal that should at least have been 
attacked with a No. 10. I submit the question to 
any admirer of the hollow Express. “ If he is on 
foot, trusting only to his rifle for protection, would 
