The interior was a cast-iron bottle (similar in
shape to a stoneware Seltzer water bottle); the neck formed a nipple to
receive a percussion-cap. The entire bottle was concealed by a leaden
coating, which was cast in a mould to fit a No. 8, or two-ounce rifle.
The iron bottle contained three drachms of the strongest gunpowder, and
a simple cap pressed down upon the nipple prepared the shell for
service.
[*Footnote: Mr. Reilly, of 502 New Oxford Street, has been most
successful in heavy rifles, with which he has supplied me in
both my African expeditions.]
"On an examination of the head of the hippopotamus, I found that the
shell had struck exactly beneath the eye, where the bone plate is thin.
It had traversed the skull, and had apparently exploded in the brain, as
it had entirely carried away the massive bone that formed the back of
the skull. The velocity of the projectile had carried the fragments of
the shell onwards after the explosion, and had formed a sort of tunnel
which was blackened with burnt powder for a considerable distance along
the flesh of the neck. I was quite satisfied with my explosive shell.
"The hippopotamus having been divided among the men, I sent Raouf Bey
with a large force to assist the steamers, which still remain fixed in
the same spot.
