These natives look upon a first-class English rifle with a sort of veneration.

Such a weapon would be a perfect fortune to one of these people, and I have often been astonished that robberies of such things are not more frequent.
There is much difference of opinion among Ceylon sportsmen as to the style of gun for elephant-shooting.

But there is one point upon which all are agreed, that no matter what the size of the bore may be, all the guns should be alike, and the battery for one man should consist of four double-barrels.

The confusion in hurried loading where guns are of different calibres is beyond conception.
The size and the weight of guns must depend as much on the strength and build of a man as a ship's armament does upon her tonnage; but let no man speak against heavy metal for heavy game, and let no man decry rifles and uphold smooth-bores (which is very general), but rather let him say, "I cannot carry a heavy gun," and "I cannot shoot with a rifle." There is a vast difference between shooting at a target and shooting at live game.

Many men who are capital shots at target-practice cannot touch a deer, and cannot even use the rifle as a rifle at live game, but actually knock the sights out and use it as a smoothbore.