i8 
IVILD BEASTS AND THEIR WA VS 
CHAP. 
This is one reason adduced in favour of the 
hollow Express bullet, which smashes up into minute 
films of lead when it strikes the hard muscles of an 
animal, owing to its extreme velocity, and the weak¬ 
ness of its parts through the hollowness of its centre. 
I contend, on the contrary, that the bullet has 
committed suicide by destroying itself, although its 
fragments may have fatally torn and injured the vital 
organs of the wounded animal. The bullet has 
ceased to exist, as it is broken into fifty shreds ; 
therefore it is dead, as it is no longer a compact 
body,—in fact, it has disappeared, although the 
actual striking energy of a very inferior bullet may 
have been expended upon the animal. 
If the animal is small and harmless, this should be 
the desired result. If, on the other hand, the animal 
should be large and dangerous, there cannot be a 
greater mistake than the hollow Express projectile. 
I have frequently heard persons of great experi¬ 
ence dilate with satisfaction upon the good shots 
made with their little *450 hollow Express exactly 
behind the shoulder of a tiger or some other animal. 
I have also heard of their failures, which were to 
themselves sometimes incomprehensible. A solid 
Express ’577 never fails if the direction is accurate 
towards a vital part. The position of the animal 
does not signify ; if the hunter has a knowledge of 
comparative anatomy (which he must have, to be a 
thoroughly successful shot) he can make positively 
certain of his game at a short distance, as the solid 
bullet will crash through muscle, bone, and every oppos- 
