2Q4 "SCHERMS." 



watch upon their flock by night;" * and from the 

 nature of the country, which is treeless and stony, the 

 chances are that the enclosures upon the plains of 

 Palestine consisted of loose stone walls, such as we 

 have spoken of above. Moreover the Scriptural allusions 

 to sheep following the shepherd are strictly in accordance 

 with actual practice. The shepherd, who is well known 

 to and constantly with his sheep, walks in front and the 

 sheep meekly follow after. We have noticed such 

 incidents again and again during our own oriental ex- 

 periences. 



There is another sort of " blind " that is at times very 

 useful in antelope shooting on wide plains, often made 

 use of in the great game country of South Africa by 

 the Dutch Boers in former days. These consist of 

 small circular enclosures f just large enough for one 

 sportsman to crouch behind, at some game pass among 

 the hills, by which the game are in the constant habit 

 of passing to and fro. Here the hunter awaits their 

 coming, or else sends a comrade on horseback round 

 to start a herd feeding in the open, in which case 

 they commonly make for the pass. It is to be observed 

 that experience shows that game started in this way 

 almost always run to windward. We can have no doubt 

 that this is to enable them to catch the scent of 

 enemies that may possibly be lurking in that direction. 

 Similar blinds were in use among the Red Indian 

 tribes of North America inhabiting the Rocky Moun- 

 tains and other hill countries; they used in the same 

 way to have them in passes, and on the tops of di- 

 vides, where the animals were in the habit of cross- 



* St. Luke ii., v. 8. 



| Called "Scherms" id Afrikander Dutch. 



