

THE TRENCH. 



151 



Even in hunting the pit or partial trench is largely used. 

 In Southern Africa the hunter often employs such a trench, 

 called technically a " Skarm." It is very simple in idea, 

 and easily made, being based on the principle that lions, 

 elephants, &c., look for their assailants on the level of the 

 earth, and seldom, if ever, look above or below it. Accord- 

 ingly the hunter, having marked some pool or lake whereunto 

 the wild animals resort at night to quench their thirst, chooses 

 a convenient spot, and there digs a trench some seven feet in 

 length and four deep, and covers it in with stout tree-branches 

 and logs of various size. The whole is roofed in with sods, 

 and the only entrance is at one end. 



Here the hunter sits and waits, and, as his ear is on a level 

 with the surface of the ground, he can hear at a considerable 

 distance sounds which would have escaped him had he been erect. 



Waiting for a favourable opportunity, as the various beasts 

 come to drink, the hunter chooses one, takes careful aim, and 

 fires one of his heaviest guns. It is but seldom that the rest 

 of the animals charge in the direction of the Skarm, but even 



GALLERIA-MOTH (LARVA). 



MILITARY TttEXCH. 



if they do, the hunter is quite safe under the shelter of his 

 strong roof, which is able to resist even the heavy tread of an 

 elephant. 



In modern warfare, and especially during sieges, the trench 

 is largely used, and is constructed on the most scientific prin- 

 ciples, so as to shelter the assailants, while enabling them to 

 proceed nearer and nearer to the fortress. A portion of one of 

 these trenches is shown in the right hand of the illustration. 



ON the opposite side of the same illustration is shown the 

 same principle as carried out in Nature. 



There is a certain little insect, called the Wax-moth, or 

 Galleria-moth (Galkria alvearia), which, although quite 



