258 OLD TRAILS. 



still this slight traffic repeated year after year, leaves 

 behind it almost indelible marks, consisting 1 of a blind 

 trail forming a flattened channel in the hill sides, 

 which can often be followed for long distances by 

 the eye. 



Then again there are the curious instances of the 

 disappearance and reappearance of old trails, which 

 had seemingly faded away for ever, but which from 

 various causes again become visible. These are mostly 

 seen in long grass countries, and the trails are presum- 

 ably preserved from destruction by the grass which 

 hid them. A good instance of this, which may be 

 brought home to all our minds, may be seen in any 

 English hayfield, where the grass was cut by a mowing 

 machine; all traces of its work will be entirely oblit- 

 erated by the springing up of the after-grass in autumn; 

 yet the following spring, just before the new grass 

 begins to grow, every go-round of the machine made 

 in the old grass will again become plainly visible, 

 more so in fact sometimes than it was at the time of 

 the cutting. But like many of the game paths of 

 which we have spoken above, the marks are best seen 

 at some distance off, and when looking down from 

 windows or from a hill-top upon the field. These 

 and many others all form curious and instructive ex- 

 amples of the various ways in which trails perpetuate 

 themselves. 



In a wild country inhabited by numerous herds of 

 game, the animals in passing from one district to 

 another generally follow certain well-defined routes; 

 and we cannot doubt that the traces even where 

 there exists no actual beaten trail left by the passage 

 of former herds, serve as guides to the others which 



