Novemb higher without recoiling. It is in confequence of the weight of the piece, that the fportfman hardly ever offers to fire off his gun, without refting on his ramrod in the manner before mentioned. StiH lefs does any one venture to difcharge his piece, while fitting on his horfe, as both the horfe and its mailer have ufually a tremor upon them in confequence of hard riding. 3dly, It is requifite for the ihooting of elephants, that the ball be compofed of about one part of tin, and two parts -of lead; for a ball made of lead alone is always quite, or, at leaft, in fome meafure flattened, againit the thick and very tough hides o f the larger kind of animals, and by this means mifies its intended effedt, as I have myfelf feen in the cafe o f the rhinoceros. Again, i f there be too great a mixture of tin in the ball, this Will be too light and brittle into the bargain; fo that, as I have likewife found by experience, it will fly afunder in the fear j , when it hits againit the boney parts of the body o f any large beaft. Several people have allured me, that with muikets o f this kind highly charged, and tin balls, they could make a hole through a plough-fhare o f a tolerable thicknefs. Indeed I never faw this done, but do not look upon it as incredible; as when I feemed to doubt o f the fail, feveral people offered to lay me a wager of it. On the other hand, I was the more inclined to believe it, as I knew that with a mere leaden piftol bullet, a perfon has fometimes ihot through a breaft-plate. I have heard many fportfmen mention it, as a fadt well known among their fraternity, that when they have got an opportunity o f firing with the larger kind of fire-arms among a herd o f zebras and quaggas that that have flood clofe together, the ball, when it did not N '775- hit upon any of the boney parts of them, has pafled through C w ‘ four or five o f thefe animals at a time. 4thly, It is neceflary above all things to hit the elephant on the heart, or ibmewhere near it, where it is a great chance but that the ball meets with fome large blood-veiTel,- by which means the animal foon bleeds to death. It is therefore the more requifite to have a large piece, as the wound made by a fmall ball, may eafily happen to be clofed up with fat or clots o f blood; not to mention the elafticity o f the hide and muicular fibres, which in the elephant, rhinoceros, and many other large animals, is proportionally greater than in the imaller kind o f game; and in confe— quence of which, the Wound made by the iliot is the ealier contradled and diminiihed. A man famous for ihooting o f elephants, told me, indeed, that the beft way to come at the heart o f this animal, was to level the piece at that part o f its fide, which is generally in contadl with the tips o f its ears; but to judge from the beautiful drawing o f this creature in M. B u f f o n ’s work, the ears feem too fhort for the diredtions given me by my informer to be o f any u fe ; except, indeed, that the African elephants ihould have fomewhat longer ears than that o f M. B u f fo n ; or that the ears in the large and very old animals, are proportionably much more lengthened, than in the young one reprefented in the work above-mentioned. It mull have been from experience, that the huntfmen at the Cape have learned not to take aim at the elephant’s head, as the brain is- too fmall to be eafily hit, and is 1 more
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