1 64 A VEIL OF THORNS. 



To persons unacquainted with forest hunting, it 

 might seem almost incredible that such a huge beast 

 as an elephant could be so hard to see, or could 

 possibly move off so noiselessly through thick bush, 

 but the thing has been too often recorded to admit of 

 a doubt. The late Sir Samuel Baker for instance, 

 when hunting in his younger days in the Ceylon 

 jungles, mentions coming upon a herd of elephants in 

 a similar way. 



"We were (he says) within six paces of them, concealed 

 behind the trunks of large trees, from which we could 

 discover the dim forms of six elephants, through the screen 

 of thorns, which had a similar effect to that produced by 

 looking through a gauze veil. For some moments they stood 

 in an attitude of intense attention, and I momentarily expected 

 them to break cover, as we were perfectly still and motionless. 

 Suddenly they winded us, and whisked round to the thick 

 jungle, disappearing like magic." * 



The difficulty of making out the form of an animal > 

 even of the largest size, and of the most apparently 

 remarkably visible pattern of hide, owing to what is 

 known as the law of "protective colourings," is an 

 undoubted fact, which has been already discussed; 

 and this " veil of thorns " spoken of by Sir Samuel 

 Baker furnishes an exact picture of the effect created 

 by the intervention of a thick hedge of twigs and 

 branches. Moreover the soft and spongy nature of 

 the elephant's foot to a great extent explains how it 

 comes to pass that these mighty beasts can tread with 

 so noiseless a footfall. 



Those, for instance, who have witnessed the stately 



* The Rifie and Hound in Ceylon, by Sir Samuel W. Baker, New 

 Edit, of 1882, p. 243 (originally published 1854). 



