188 
RIFLES AND BULLETS FOR HEAVY GAME. [chap. vii. 
The character of the country naturally influences 
the habits of the animals : thus, Africa, being more 
generally open than the forest-clad Ceylon, the ele¬ 
phant is more accustomed to activity, and is much 
faster than the Ceylon variety. Being an old elephant- 
hunter of the latter island, I was exceedingly inte¬ 
rested in the question of variety of species, and I had 
always held the opinion that the African elephant 
might be killed with the same facility as that of 
Ceylon, by the forehead shot, provided that a sufficient 
charge of powder were used to penetrate the extra 
thickness of the head. I have found, by much expe¬ 
rience, that I was entirely wrong, and that, although 
by chance an African elephant may be killed by the 
front shot, it is the exception to the rule. The danger 
of the sport is, accordingly, much increased, as it is 
next to impossible to kill the elephant when in full 
charge, and the only hope of safety consists in turning 
him by a continuous fire with heavy guns; this cannot 
always be effected. 
I had a powerful pair of No. 10 poly groove rifles, 
made by Beilly of Oxford Street; they weighed fifteen 
pounds, and carried seven drachms of powder without 
a disagreeable recoil. The bullet was a blunt cone, 
one and a half diameter of the bore, and I used a 
mixture of nine-tenths lead and one-tenth quicksilver 
for the hardening of the projectile. This is superior 
to all mixtures for that purpose, as it combines hard¬ 
ness with extra weight; the lead must be melted in a 
pot by itself to a red heat, and the proportion of 
quicksilver must be added a ladle-full at a time, 
and stirred quickly with a piece of iron just in 
sufficient quantity to make three or four bullets. If 
the quicksilver is subjected to a red heat in the large 
lead pot, it will evaporate. The only successful fore¬ 
head shot that I made at an African elephant, was 
shortly after my arrival in the Abyssinian territory on 
the Settite river ; this was in thick thorny jungle, and 
an elephant from the herd charged with such good 
