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31   Art of Travel.

Trees de Loop are holes, with a sharp stake driven in the bottom of each of them (see "Pitfalls," p. 264) with the pointed end upwards. The South Sea Islanders use them in multitudes to prevent the possibility of an enemy's approach at night, otherwise than along the narrow paths that lead to their villages : if a man deviates from a path, he is sure to stumble into one of these contrivances, and to be lamed. The holes need not exceed one foot in diameter ; and the stake may be a stick no thicker than the little finger, and yet it will suffice to maim an ill-shod man, if its point be baked hard. A traveller could only use these pitfalls where, from the circumstances of the case, there was no risk of his own men, cattle, or dogs falling into them.


Weapons, to resist an Attack.-Unless your ammunition is so kept as to be accessible in the confusion of an attack, the fortifications I have just described 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 papers with a dozen caps in each. Buck-shot and slugs are 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 tell well on the bodies of naked assailants. In close quarters, thrust, do not strike ; and recollect 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. A good horseman will find a powerful weapon at hand by unhitching his stirrup leather and attached stirrup from the saddle. I know of a case where this idea saved the rider.

Roclvets.-Of all European inventions, nothing so impresses

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