MINB UNDER WATEB. 167 



municated to it by the tides, or by the " pull " of the 

 sun and moon, it has been found almost impossible as 

 yet to carry out the object, so greatly are these move- 

 ments obscured by the ceaseless and inexplicable 

 vibrations of the solid earth. There is nothing un- 

 reasonable in the supposition that, if an instrument 

 can be constructed to show these, the ears of animals 

 and birds — living organisms, and not iron and steel — 

 should be able to discover the tremors of the surface. 



The wild hunter can still further check or altogether 

 prevent observation by moving on hands and knees, 

 when his weight is widely distributed. In the par- 

 ticular instance of a fish he endeavours to come to the 

 margin of the water at the rear of the fish, whose eyes 

 are so placed that it can see best in front. When he 

 has arrived at the margin, and has to rear himself up, 

 if from hands and knees, or, if already upright, when 

 he commences his work, he tries to conceal his arms, 

 or, rather, to minimize their peculiar appearance as 

 much as practicable by keeping them close to his sides. 

 All this time I am supposing that you are looking 

 at the poacher from the fish. To a fish or any wild 

 animal the arms of a man are suspicious. No other 

 creature that they know possesses these singular 

 appurtenances, which move in almost any direction, 

 and yet have nothing to do with locomotion. You 

 may be sure that this great difference in the 

 anatomical construction of a man is recognized by all 

 wild animals once they are compelled for their own 

 safety to observe him. Arms are so entirely opposite 

 to all the varieties of limb possessed by the varieties 

 of living creatures. 



