which was not an easy task, there being no division between the words:* HICEGOQVITACEOVERSIBVSMEA++TADEMONSTROLVCEMCLARAFRVI TVSETTEMPORASVMMA PRAECILIVSCIRTENSILAREARGENTARI AMLXIBVIARTEMTYDISINMEMIRAFVILSEMPERETVERITASOMNISOM NIBVSCOMMVNISEGOECVINNOMISERTVSV BIOVERITVSIVXVRIASEMPERFRVITVSCVM CARISAMICISTALEMPOSTORBITVMDOMINAEVALERIAENONINVENIPV DICAEVITAMCVNPOTVI ADVENITPOSTREMADIESVTSPERITVSITVSINANIAMEMPRARELIQVATTITVLOSQVOSLEGESVIVVSMEE MORTIPARAVIVOEVI++T+FORTVNAMNO+AMMEDESERVITIPSASEOVINITALESEIICVOSE+ORECTOVENITAE— After a sojourn of a week at Constantine, a letter was received from M. Jules Gérard stating that he would not be able to join our expedition, as he could not get an extension of his leave of absence, so, the weather still continuing extremely unpropitious for shooting excursions, we resolved to go about and * The Rev. Mr. Blakesley, who visited the tomb some months after us, being a first-rate classical scholar, was able to make out the epitaph, notwithstanding the numerous mistakes of the stone-cutter. It should have been :-" Hic ego qui taceo versibus mea fata demonstro, lucem claram fruitus et tempora Præcilius, Cirtensi Lare, argentariam exhibui artem. Fides in me mira fuit semper et veritas omnis omnibus communis. Ego cui non misertus ubique? Risus luxuriam semper fruitus cum caris amicis, talem post obitum Domina Valeriæ non inveni. Pudice vitam cum potui gratam habui cum conjuge sanctâ. Natales honestæ meos centum celebravi felices. At venit postrema dies ut spiritus inania membra relinquat. Titulos quos legis, vivus meæ morti paravi ut voluit Fortuna. Nunquam me deseruit ipsa. Sequimini tales: hinc vos exspecto. Venite." see as much of the country as we could, and I believe we were all highly satisfied with our trip, feeling convinced that Algeria is a splendid field either for the sportsman, the tourist, or the invalid. The probable expenses of a trip will be as follows:-Travelling expenses (first-class throughout) from London, 201.; hotel expenses for three months, 60%.; hunting expenses, comprising beaters, trackers, horse-hire, boat-hire (for wildfowl on the lakes), and sundries, 201.: probable total of expenditure for three months' sport, 100l. The probable additional expense with a servant will be rather more than onethird of the above, say 40l. I need hardly observe that this does not include the items Château Margot or Lafitte; but each can make his own arrangements, so as to suit his inclination or his means. The sportsman need only carry his arms, ammunition, and personal baggage. He will find everything else he requires in Algeria. Small game of all kinds is to be found at a very short distance from the town, so that the sportsman need not go further daily than ten miles (or even less), returning to sleep at the hotel. In order to shoot at greater distances, he should provide himself with a tent, if he wishes to do the thing comfortably. LARGE GAME. The following animals are to be met with in this part: the lion, the panther, the wild-boar, deer, antelope, and the jungle-sheep; also a kind of mountain-deer. The Lion. The best manner of pursuing this sport is by tracking his footprints to his lair, and killing him when he charges. The Arabs are fair trackers, and will conduct the sportsman to his usual haunts. Then everything depends on the hunter's own steadiness, shooting, and the goodness of his arms. The Panther.-This animal may be killed by tracking, or hunted with dogs, that attract its attention and give the sportsman opportunities of taking fair aim. The Wild-boar is found in great abundance. Ten hunters, accompanied by people who know the country, may kill fifty in a day. Alone, they may not see a tusk in a week. The boar avoids the neighbourhood of the lion and panther. Hog-hunting is followed in this country, either by tracking, or with greyhounds, on horseback, or by beating. It remains for the English sportsman to ride down the grey boar-spear in hand, as is done in India. Hog are to be found close to the town; they even sometimes enter the gardens during the night. Deer are to be found of various kinds; they are best killed by stalking. Antelope and Jungle-sheep are killed either by stalking or forming a battue. The Mountain-deer is found in the mountainous districts only, and is killed in the same way as the chamois, which it very much resembles in its habits. Small game is very abundant throughout the country, and consists of red-partridge, hares, junglefowl (poule de Carthage), bustard and quail, which are to be found in great quantities. On the lakes all kinds of waterfowl are to be found, from the duck to the swan; besides which, woodcock and snipe are very numerous in the season. The sportsman may fill a cart with waterfowl; it is only a question of how much ammunition he has got with him. The abundance of game in this country is very easily accounted for. In the first place the inhabitants, the Arabs, shoot little or nothing, and the French in Algeria do as the Arabs; so that all kinds of game, large and small, live in a state of undisturbed peace, and multiply accordingly. Large game, such as lions and panthers, have been driven into the wildest part of the country by the advance of civilisation, and the sportsman may lese much time in finding out their haunts, if not accompanied by those initiated. M. Jules Gérard spent upwards of six hundred nights in the forest before he killed his twenty-sixth lion; so whoever would tread in his footsteps should not be discouraged by want of success in the first instance. PART IV. PRACTICAL HINTS ON FIREARMS AND THEIR USE. CHAPTER XXVI. The advantage of breech-loading guns and rifles.-The different systems. Advice on purchasing fire-arms.-The theory of rifle practice.-Aiming, position, judging distance, and practical hints on shooting.—On the colour of sportsmen's dress.-Table of experiments with targets. A Ta time when cannon and rifles form the subject of so much discussion and conversation in every circle, it were well if sportsmen would give some consideration to the breech-loading system as adapted to sporting-arms. Cannon and small arms are both in a transition state, and in the course of a few years we may expect to see great changes in the armament of our land and naval forces; for Sir William Armstrong and Mr. Whitworth, of Manchester, have satisfactorily proved that rifled cannon on the breech-loading system exceed all others |