of the Old World. 249 



ledge of the nature and habits of that sagacious 

 animal, whose keenly-developed senses far exceed 

 that of any other denizen of the forest ; he must be 

 well acquainted with its peculiar structure and ana- 

 tomy, or his bullet, however true, will never reach 

 the vital part with any certainty ; he must be an 

 adept at l \ tracking," or following spoor, and in the 

 understanding of jungle signs, which, although a 

 natural gift to the red men of the Far West and 

 Indian jungle-tribes, is only acquired by intense study 

 and long practice ; he must be patient and enduring, 

 satisfied with hard fare and short commons, as he 

 will often have to subsist wholly upon his gun, with 

 the ground for his bed, and a forest-tree for his 

 canopy. He should feel with the great poet, that 

 "There is a pleasure in the pathless woods," and 

 " society where none intrudes :" for he must often be 

 content with nature and his own thoughts as compa- 

 nions, and he must not let his spirits be depressed by 

 the solitude and intense stillness of the deep jungle. 

 The hunter must sleep like a hare, always on the 

 alert, ever prepared and watchful ; for he never knows 

 what he may meet, or the danger a moment may 

 bring forth. Inured" to peril, he must never be cast 

 down or faint of heart ; or he had better not attempt 

 to follow up the spoor of the elephant to his haunts 

 in the dense, deep jungle, where the rays of the sun 

 seldom penetrate, and the woodman's axe was never 



