On the opposite side of the illustration are two examples of rafts constructed so exactly on the same principle as that of the Violet Snail, that they both might have been borrowed from it. The upper is the kind of raft which has often been constructed by sailors when trying to escape from a sinking ship, or by soldiers when wishing to convey troops across a river, and having no regular “pontoons” at hand. It is made simply by lashing a number of empty casks to a flooring of beams and planks. The amount of weight which such a structure will support is really astonishing, as long as the casks remain whole, and to upset it is almost impossible. Even cannon can be taken across wide expanses of water in perfect safety, and there is hardly anything more awkward of conveyance than a cannon, with its own enormous and concentrated weight, and all the needful paraphernalia of limber, ammunition (which may not be wetted, and of immense weight), horses, and men. Yet even this heterogeneous mass of living and lifeless weight can be carried on the cask-raft, which is an exact imitation of the living raft of the Violet Snail. * * * * * BENEATH the cask-pontoon is to be seen a sketch of a very curious vessel which is in use on the Nile, and I rather think on the Ganges also, though I am not quite sure. It is formed in the following manner:-- In both countries there are whole families who from generation to generation have lived in little villages up the river, and gained their living by making pottery, mostly of a simple though artistic form, the vessel having a rather long and slender neck, and a more or less globular body. When a man has made a sufficient number of these vessels, he lashes them together with their mouths uppermost, and then fixes upon them a simple platform of reeds. The papyrus was once largely used for this purpose, but it seems to be gradually abandoned. He thus forms a pontoon exactly similar in principle with the cask-pontoon which has just been described. Then, taking his place on his buoyant raft, he floats down the river until he comes to some populous town, takes his raft to pieces, sells the pots and reeds, and makes his way home again by land. WAR AND HUNTING. CHAPTER I. THE PITFALL, THE CLUB, THE SWORD, THE SPEAR AND DAGGER.