WAR AND HUNTING. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



CONCEALMENT. DISGUISE. THE TRENCH. POWER OF 

 GRAVITY. MISCELLANEA. 



Concealment needed in Modern "Warfare. Concealment by Covering. Masking 

 Guns. Birnam "Wood. The Reduvius. The Cuckoo-spit and the Spider- 

 crab. Concealment by Disguise. Stratagem of the Barea. Complete 

 Deception. Larva of Geometra. The Leaf-insect. The Lappet-moth. 

 The Ptarmigan and the Ermine. Principle of the Trench. The Hunter's 

 " Skarm." The Wax-moth or Galleria-moth, and its Tunnel. Fate of a 

 Collection. The Termites and the Travelling Ants of South America. The 

 Power of Gravity. The Battering-ram and its Force. Miscellanea. War 

 by Suffocation. The Stink-pot. The Chili-plant. The Sulphur-room. 

 The Boinbadier-beetle. The Bullet-making Machine and the Silkworm. 



CONCEALMENT. 



WE will first take Concealment by means of Covering. 

 If History repeats herself, so does Warfare. I have 

 already shown the repetition of History in the Fortress I 

 shall now show it in the Field. 



In former days, when arms of precision were not invented, 

 concealment was not needed. No soldier ever was visited with 

 a dream so wild as that of taking definite aim at the enemy, 

 and reserving the fire until the aim was certain. I have in my 

 collection several of the French and English muskets used 

 about the time of Waterloo, and, though a fair rifle-shot, 

 would not engage to hit a haystack with either of them at a 

 distance of a hundred yards. With the Snider or Martini- 

 Henry in the hands of a skilful adversary, he would be a bold 

 man who would offer himself for a target at a thousand yards. 

 Indeed, if the first shot happened to miss, the marksman 



