THE “ BABY” 
[chap. VII. 
230 
tliat occasion I shot five, quite as quickly as we should 
kill them in Ceylon. 
The character of the sport must vary according to 
the character of the country; thus there may he parts 
of Africa at variance with my description. I only 
relate my own experience. 
Among other weapons, I had an extraordinary rifle 
that carried a half-pound percussion shell—this in¬ 
strument of torture to the hunter was not sufficiently 
heavy for the weight of the projectile ; it only weighed 
twenty pounds : thus, with a charge of ten drachms 
of powder, behind a half-pound shell, the recoil was 
so terrific, that I was spun round like a weathercock 
in a hurricane. I really dreaded my own rifle, although 
I had been accustomed to heavy charges of powder, 
and severe recoil for many years. None of my men 
could fire it, and it was looked upon with a species of 
awe, and was named “ Jenna el Mootfah ” (child of a 
cannon) by the Arabs, which being far too long a 
name for practice, I christened it the “Baby;” and 
the scream of this “ Baby,” loaded with a half-pound 
shell, was always fatal. It was far too severe, and I 
very seldom fired it, but it is a curious fact, that I 
never fired a shot with that rifle without bagging: 
the entire practice, during several years, was confined 
to about twenty shots. I was afraid to use it; but 
