WAR AND HUNTING 



CHAPTER VII. 



SCALING INSTRUMENTS. DEFENCE OF FORT. IMITATION. 

 THE FALL-TRAP. 



Scaling-forks. The Climbing-spur and its Use. Larva of the Tiger- beetle. 

 Hooks of Serpula. Mr. G-osse's Description. Falling Stones. A Stone roll- 

 ing down a Precipice. The Polar Bear and the Walrus. Imitation. The 

 Polar Bear and the Seal. The Esquimaux Hunter " Seal- talking." En- 

 ticing Mother by means of Young. The Fall -trap and its Variations. The 

 Schoolboy's "Booby-trap." Curious Mode of killing Elephants. The Ele- 

 phant-spear. The Hippopotamus-trap of Southern Africa. The Mangrove 

 and its Seeds. The Spring-gun and Spring-bow. 



BEFORE dismissing the subject of the Fortress, we will 

 glance at the Attack and Defence, as seen in Nature 

 and Art. 



SCALING INSTRUMENTS. 



WE have already seen how the Battering-ram could be 

 worked against the walls of a fort, or how the assailants could 

 scale them by means of the Testudo. There must, however, be 

 occasions when it would be impossible to bring together a 

 sufficiently large body of men to form the Testudo, or even to 

 place ladders, and in such instances it would be necessary that 

 each soldier should be furnished with an instrument by which 

 he could haul himself up the wall. 



There are many examples still extant of such weapons, which 

 were called " Scaling-forks," and their general appearance 

 may be known by the two right-hand figures of the cut. The 

 handles of these weapons were very long, and by them the 



