34^ The Life of the Spider 



the sand is shaken and gradually drops away and 

 the home resumes its charnel-house appearance. 

 This brings us to the same conclusion as before : 

 the Clotho knows her statics ; by means of ad- 

 ditional weights, she is able to lower the centre 

 of gravity and thus to give her dwelling the 

 proper equilibrium and capacity. 



Now what does she do in her softly-wadded 

 home ? Nothing, that I know of. With a full 

 stomach, her legs luxuriously stretched over the 

 downy carpet, she does nothing, thinks of 

 nothing ; she listens to the sound of earth re- 

 volving on its axis. It is not sleep, still less is 

 it waking ; it is a middle state where naught 

 prevails save a dreamy consciousness of well- 

 being. We ourselves, when comfortably in bed, 

 enjoy, just before we fall asleep, a few moments 

 of bliss, the prelude to cessation of thought and 

 its train of worries ; and those moments are 

 among the sweetest in our lives. The Clotho 

 seems to know similar moments and to make 

 the most of them. 



If I push open the door of the cabin, invariably 

 I find the Spider lying motionless, as though in 

 endless meditation. It needs the teasing of a 



