128 nature's teachings. 



furnished with suits of quilted mail, which fall below the knee 

 as the rider is seated on his horse. Not only is the rider thus 

 defended, but the horse also, which is covered with quilted 

 armour like that of its rider, the appearance of both being 

 exceedingly grotesque. 



There are several examples of such armour in the animal 

 world, the principal of which is the Indian Rhinoceros. Any 

 one who has seen this animal, or even a good portrait of it, will 

 at once recognise the parallel between the heavy folds of its 

 thick skin and the padded flaps of the quilted mail. The 

 blubber with which the whale is so thickly coated affords 

 another example of the parallel between Nature and Art. 



In the days of ancient Rome there was a curious mili- 

 tary manoeuvre, by which the defensive armour of individual 

 soldiers might be made collectively useful. This manoeuvre 

 was called Forming a Tortoise {testudinem facere), and is 

 thus described in Smith's " Dictionary of Greek and Roman 

 Antiquities :" — 



" The name of Testudo was also applied to the covering 

 made by a close body of soldiers, who placed their shields 

 over their heads to screen themselves against the darts of the 

 enemy. The shields fitted so closely together as to present 

 one unbroken surface without any interstices between them, 

 and were so firm that men could walk upon them, and even 

 horses and chariots be driven over them. 



" A Testudo was formed either in battle, to ward off the 

 arrows and other missiles of the enemy, or, which was more 



ROMAN TESTUDO. 



frequently the case, to form a protection to the soldiers when 

 they advanced to the walls or gates of a town for the purpose 

 of attacking them. 



