The natives in Ceylon, when they wish to make a depot of game, jerk it, put the dry meat into the hollow of a tree, fill up the reservoir with honey, and plaster it over with clay.

Some dried plants of M. Bourgeau, the botanist attached to Captain Palliser’s expedition to the Rocky Mountains, remained underground for ten months without injury.

Newly disturbed Ground sinks when Wetted.—­If a cache be made in dry weather, and the ground be simply levelled over it, the first heavy rain will cause the earth to sink, and will proclaim the hidden store to an observant eye.  Soldiers, in sacking a town, find out hastily-buried treasures by throwing a pailful of water over any suspected spot:  if the ground sinks, it has surely been recently disturbed.

Best place for a Cache.—­The best position to choose for a cache is in a sandy or gravelly soil, on account of its dryness and the facility of digging.  Old burrows, or the gigantic but abandoned hills of white ants, may be thought of, if the stores are enclosed in cases of painted tin:  also clefts in rocks:  some things can be conveniently buried under water.  The place must be chosen under circumstances that admit of your effacing all signs of the ground having been disturbed.  A good plan is to set up your tent and to dig a deep hole in the floor, depositing what you have to bury wrapped in an oil-cloth, in an earthen jar, or in a wooden vessel, according to what you are able to get.  It must be secure against the attacks of the insects of the place:  avoid the use of skins, for animals will smell and dig them out.  Continue to inhabit the tent for at least a day, well stamping and smoothing down the soil at leisure.  After this, change the position of the tent, shifting the tethering-place or kraal of your cattle to where it stood.  They will speedily efface any marks that may be left.  Travellers often make their fires over the holes where their stores are buried; but natives are so accustomed to suspect fireplaces, that this plan does not prove to be safe.  During summer travel, in countries pestered with gnats, a smoke fire for the horses (that is, a fire for keeping off flies), made near the place, will attract the horses and cause them to trample all about.  This is an excellent way of obliterating marks left about the cache.

Hiding Small Things.—­It is easy to make a small cache by bending down a young tree, tying your bundle to the top, and letting it spring up again.  A spruce-tree gives excellent shelter to anything placed in its branches.  (See also what is said on “Burying Letters,” p. 303.)

Hiding Large Things.—­Large things, as a wagon or boat, must either be pushed into thick bushes or reeds and left to chance, or they may be buried in a sand drift or in a sandy deposit by a river side.  A small reedy island is a convenient place for such caches.

Double Caches.—­Some persons, when they know that their intentions are suspected, make two caches:  the one with a few things buried in it, and concealed with little care; the other, containing those that are really valuable, and very artfully made.  Thieves are sure to discover the first, and are likely enough to omit a further search.