habitually adopt this plan when circumstances require extreme caution. If a troop of horsemen pass near your hidingplace, it may be necessary to clutch your steed's muzzle with both hands, to prevent his neighing.

Keeping watch.-When you think you hear anything astir, lie down and lay your ear on the ground. To see to the best advantage, take the same position; you thus bring low objects high against the sky, and make them stand in bold relief against it besides this, in a wooded country it is often easy to see far between the bare stems of the trees, while their spreading tops quite shut out all objects a few yards off. Thus, an animal sees a man's legs long before he sees his face. An opera-glass is an excellent night-glass, and at least doubles the distance of distinct vision in the dark. I should be glad to hear that a fair trial had been also given by a traveller to an ear-trumpet.

DEFENCE.

§ 1. Camp Fortification.

§ 2. Weapons.

§ 1. Camp fortification.-Explorers have frequent occasion to form a depôt, either to leave a few men in charge of the heavy luggage, while the rest of the party ride on a distant reconnoitring expedition, or else, where the whole party may encamp for weeks, until the state of the season, or other cause, may permit further travel. In either case, if in a country where hostile attempts are to be apprehended, a little forethought will vastly increase the security of the depôt. For instance, it should be at least 200 yards from any cover, or commanding heights; if the ground itself have any features of strength about it, as being near the side of a stream, or being on a hill, so much the better; the neighbourhood of shingle prevents any person from stealing across unheard; and, finally, the great principle of fortification suited to a small party is to form the camp into a square, and to have two projecting enclosures at opposite corners, where all the guns of the party may place themselves to fire on their assailants. It will be seen by the sketch, next page, how completely even one man, with a gun in each enclosure, can sweep the hedge as well as the whole environs of the camp. A square is better than a round shape for the enclosures, as it allows more men to use their guns at the same time on the same point; but it is so convenient to make the walls of the enclosure serve as sidings for your tent, that it would be best to let the size and shape of the tent determine those of the enclosure. A square of

nine or ten feet in the inside is amply sufficient for three guns or archers. The parapets can be easiest built of large

T

stones; I do not speak of earthwork, for a travelling party has rarely spades; but if digging be possible, then, of course, the parapet should be raised from earth thrown up by digging a trench outside it; and the common calculation is, that, with good tools, a labourer can dig one cubic yard of earth an hour, and continue working eight hours in the day. It should be raised to a height of, at least, four feet above the ground, as that is the most convenient height to fire from, standing; and as being high enough to shield a person kneeling down to load. Upon this parapet large stones are to be laid, having loop-holes between them, and on these stones the tent is to be pitched, its pole being lengthened by lashing a piece of wood to it, or by cutting a fresh pole altogether. It will make a high roof to the enclosure, and complete a very comfortable abode. We have thus a square enclosed camp for the cattle, the waggons, and the natives, and at opposite corners of it two fortified houses, one of which would naturally be inhabited by the leaders of the party, and the other, either by the storekeeper, or by the white servants generally

Have a standing rule that many natives should never be allowed to go inside your camp at the same time; it is everywhere a common practice among them to collect quietly in a friendly way, and at a given signal to rise en masse and overpower their hosts. Even when they profess to have left their arms behind, do not be too confident; they are often close at hand. Captain Sturt says, that he has known Australian savages to trail their spears between their toes as they walked to him through the grass professedly

unarmed.

§ 2. Weapons.-Unless your ammunition is so kept as to be accessible in the confusion of an attack, all your fortifying would be of little service. If the guns are all, or nearly all, of the same bore, it is simple enough to have small bags filled with cartridges, and also pill-boxes with a dozen caps in each. Otherwise, you must make the best of it. Buck-shot and

slugs would be better than bullets for the purposes of which we are speaking. Bows and arrows might render good service. The Chinese, in their junks, when they expect a piratical attack, bring up baskets filled with stones from the ballast of the ship, and put them on deck ready at hand. They throw them with great force and precision. The idea is not a bad one. Boiling water and hot sand, if circumstances happened to permit their use, are worth bearing in mind, as they would tell well on naked assailants. In close quarters, thrust, do not strike; and recollect always that it is not the slightest use to hit a negro on the head with a stick, as it is a fact that his skull endures a blow better than any other part of his person. In picking out the chiefs, do not select the men that are the most showily ornamented, for they are not the chiefs, but the biggest and the busiest.

Rockets. Of all European inventions, nothing so impresses

and terrifies savages as fireworks, especially rockets. I cannot account for the remarkable effect they produce, but in every land the case appears to be the same. A rocket, judiciously sent up, is very likely to frighten off an intended attack and save bloodshed. If a traveller is supplied with any, he should never make playthings of them, but keep them for great emergencies.