Wild Beasts and their Ways

Reminiscences of Europe, Asia, Africa and America


by Sir Samuel W. Baker
F.R.S., F.R.G.S., etc., etc.
Volume 1




CHAPTER I

THE RIFLE OF A PAST HALF CENTURY

Forty years ago our troops were armed with a smooth-bore musket, and a
small force known as the "Rifle Brigade" was the exception to this rule.

The military rifle carried a spherical bullet, and, like all others of
the period, it necessitated the use of a mallet to strike the ball,
which, being a size larger than the bore, required the blow to force it
into the rifling of the barrel in order to catch the grooves.

Sporting rifles were of various sizes, but they were constructed upon a
principle generally accepted, that extreme accuracy could only be
obtained by burning a very small charge of powder.

The outfit required a small mallet made of hardwood faced with thick
buff leather, a powerful loading-rod, a powder-flask, a pouch to contain