ANTS. 51 



nest of all the eggs and larvae which they 

 can carry off. They return laden with this 

 booty to their own habitations, and consign 

 it to the care of the ash-coloured Ants be- 

 longing to their community, w^ho are waiting 

 in eager expectation to receive it. These 

 eggs and larvs are watched, nourished, and 

 reared to maturity, with the same care and 

 assiduity which the auxiliaries bestow on their 

 o^\Ti progeny ; and thus they become, in pro- 

 cess of time, inmates in the same society 

 with those who had originally kidnapped 

 them; and towards whom, had they been 

 brought up at home, they would have che- 

 rished an instinctive and inveterate hatred. 

 The sole object of the Amazons in these ex- 

 peditions is, to procure this supply of recruits 

 for the advantage of the community to which 

 they belong ; and the sole business of their 

 lives is to carry on these marauding adven- 

 tures. They do not assist in any of the or- 

 dinary labours of the community. The tasks 

 of building and repairing their city, of pro- 

 viding nourishment for the whole society, of 

 rearing the brood of young, both of their own 

 species and that of their companions, are en- 



