leaders of the team are unharnessed and taken to the back of the waggon, to which the collar of the front horse is made fast; in this way they can all aid the horses in the shafts. GUNS AND RIFLES. § 1. Merits and demerits of large and small Guns.-Remarks. § 2. Hanging up Guns, carrying, and cleaning them. § 3. How to dispose of Guns at night. § 4. Mending injuries to Guns. § 5. Powder-flask, Cap-holder, Gunpricker. § 6. Matters of Sportsmanship. § 7. Gunpowder, Caps, &c. § 8. Bullets and Shot. § 9. Wadding, Flints, &c. § 1. Merits and demerits of large and small guns, &c.— American bushrangers advocate a long heavy pea-rifle, on the plea of its accurate shooting, and the enormous saving in weight gained by using bullets of a small size. The only objections to small-bored rifles are those of insufficiency against very large game, even when conical bullets are used,—and a tendency to become foul after a very few shots. A short light rifle, whether with a large or a small bore, is, I believe, utterly worthless. In the hands of a man trembling with running and with exhaustion it shakes like a wand; and the shorter the rifle, the more quickly does it oscillate, and in the very same proportion is it more difficult to catch the exact moment when the sights cover the object. When plenty of ammunition can be carried, a No. 12 bore (that is to say, one such that twelve of the bullets that fit it go to a pound) is found the most convenient of any, both for guns and rifles. No. 17 is certainly too small, and No. 10 unnecessarily large. Therefore, for a man carrying the least possible weight, I should recommend a long, heavy, two-barrelled rifle, of from 60 to 80 bore, or even still smaller; but for one able to carry sufficient ammunition, light long guns of No. 12 bore, and a long, heavy, double-barrelled rifle of the same size. Opinions differ on the mode of rifling most convenient to a traveller. The old-fashioned many-grooved rifle has the advantage of carrying the very same bullets as the gun; the others, that of easier loading. In elephant-shooting, Ceylon sportsmen use enormous guns, and with them they kill elephants with single shots; while in Africa, sportsmen, with ordinary-sized weapons, average no less than twenty shots at each elephant- though Mr. Andersson has, by shooting them behind the fore-legs at very close quarters, occasionally shot them dead. Details of Cey lon sport are given in "The Rifle and the Hound in Ceylon," the author of which advocates a single-barrelled rifle, carrying a 4 oz. bullet (No. 4 bore), and weighing 21lbs. In all cases the hind sight should be far from the eye, even half-way down the barrel, else it becomes quite out of focus and indistinct, when the eye is firmly set on the object aimed at, and this drawback much more than compensates for any advantage that is gained by having the front and hind sights far asunder. All servants' guns, and indeed those of their masters, should have thin soft-iron ramrods; the bend of these will retain them in the ramrod-tubes; their ends must be forged broad. § 2. Hanging up guns, carrying, and cleaning them.-Fix “à loop of leather for the muzzle, and a strap and buckle for the stock, with a piece of sheepskin or canvass nailed so as to hang over it." But a more complete way is to sew a long pocket with a flap to it, which is tied up on to a stick or bar. The gun need simply be lifted out and in. The pocket is made baggy at the part which corresponds to the cocks of the gun. Waterproof covers should always be taken. A broad leaf wrapped loosely round the locks of a gun, will protect it during a heavy shower. Carrying guns.-Among the chances of death to which a traveller is exposed, that of being shot by an attendant's gun going off accidentally, ranks high. Servants had best carry their guns with the cock down on a piece of rag that covers the cap take it all in all, it is the best for them. A sportsman will find great convenience in having a third nick cut in the tumbler of his lock, so as to give an additional low half-cock, at which the cock justs clears the nipple, and prevents the cap from tumbling off or receiving a blow. I have long used this plan, and find no objections whatever to it: many pistols are made so. Careless gun-makers sometimes make this half-cock so low that when the cock is lifted a little back and let go, it strikes the cap by reason of the elasticity of the metal, and lets the gun off; this should be looked to. As this book may fall into the hands of persons ignorant of the danger of carrying a gun with the cock down on the nipple (to which cause I find, by a list that I used to keep, that three-fourths of gun accidents are owing), I will remark that in a gun so circumstanced, a heavy blow on the back of the cock will explode the cap, nay, even the jar caused by a gun falling on the ground will do so; or else, that if the cock catch against part of the dress, or against a twig, it will be pulled a little back, and on being released snap down on the cap, and will in this way, also, explode it. When a gun is at` half-cock, neither of these things can happen - the first obviously not; and if the cock be pulled back and let drop, it falls, not down upon the cap, but to half-cock again, except only in the case where the trigger is also pressed back, The objections to carrying a gun on half-cock are, that careless people may occasionally leave it on full-cock and not perceive the difference, and also a probability of weakening its mainspring, if day after day it be kept on the strain. Carrying guns on horseback.-Sew a bag of canvass, leather, or hide, of such a bigness as to admit the butt of the gun |