WAR AND HUNTING. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



CONCEALMENT.— DISGUISE.— THE TRENCH.— POWER OF 

 GRAVITY.— MISCELLANEA. 



Concealment needed in Modern Warfare. — Concealment by Covering. — Masking 

 Guns. — Birnam Wood. — The Reduvius. — The Cuckoo-spit and the Spider- 

 crab. — Concealment by Disguise. — Stratagem of the Barea. — Complete 

 Deception. — Larva of Geometra. — The Leaf-insect. — The Lappet-moth. — 

 The Ptarmigan and the Ermine. — Principle of the Trench. — The Hunter's 

 "Skarm." — The Wax-moth or Galleria-moth, and its Tunnel. — Fate of a 

 Collection. — The Termites and the Travelling Ants of South America. — The 

 Power of Gravity. — The Battering-ram and its Force. — Miscellanea. — War 

 by Suffocation. — The Stink-pot. — The Chili- plant. — The Sulphur-romi. — 

 The Bombadier-beetle. — The Bullet-making Machine and the Silkworm. 



Concealment. 



WE will first take Concealment by means of Covering. 

 If History repeats herself, so does Warfare. I have 

 already shown the repetition of History in the Fortress — I 

 shall now show it in the Field. 



In former days, when arms of precision were not invented, 

 concealment was not needed. ~No soldier ever was visited with 

 a dream so wild as that of taking definite aim at the enemy, 

 and reserving the fire until the aim was certain. I have in my 

 collection several of the French and English muskets used 

 about the time of Waterloo, and, though a fair rifle-shot, 

 would not engage to hit a haystack with either of them at a 

 distance of a hundred yards. With the Snider or Martini- 

 Henry in the hands of a skilful adversary, he would be a bold 

 man who would offer himself for a target at a thousand yards. 

 Indeed, if the first shot happened to miss, the marksman 



