302 Art of Travel.
mistaken ; or from the centre of the place where your fire was made, which is a mark that years will not entirely efface. If there be anything in the ground itself to indicate the position of the hole, you have made a clumsy cache. It is not a bad plan, after the things are buried, and before the tent is removed, to scratch a furrow a couple of inches deep, and three or four feet long, and picking up any bits of stick, reeds, or straw, that may be found at hand lying upon the ground, to place them end to end in it. These will be easy enough to find again by making a cross furrow, and when found will lead you straight above the depot. They would never excite suspicion, even if a native got hold of them ; for they would appear to have been dropped or blown on the ground by chance, not seen, and trampled in. Mr. Atkinson mentions an ingenious way by which the boundaries of valuable mining property are marked in the Ural, a modification of which might serve for indicating caches. A trench is dug and filled with charcoal beat small, and then covered over. The charcoal lasts for ever, and cannot be tampered wiih without leaving an unmistakable mark.
Secreting Jewels.-Before going to a rich but imperfectly civilised country, travellers sometimes buy jewels and bury them in their flesh. They make a gash, put the jewels in, and allow the flesh to grow over them as it would over a bullet. The operation is more sure to succeed if the jewels are put into a silver tube with rounded ends, for silver does not irritate. If the jewels are buried without the tube, they must have no sharp edges. The best place for burying them is in the left arm, at the spot chosen for vaccination. A traveller who was thus provided would always have a small capital to fall back upon, though robbed of everything he wore.
A Chain of gold is sometimes carried by Arabs, who sew it in dirty leather under their belt. They cut off and sell a link at a time. (Burton.)
Vie gun-stock is a good receptacle for small valuables. Unscrew the heel-plate and bore recesses ; insert what you desire, after wrapping it tightly in cloth and plugging it in ; then replace the heel-plate. (Peal.)
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