196 WARS OF ANTS. 
two ant-hills, which lay at some distance 
from each other, but were situated in the 
same hedge; so that the paths proceed- 
ing from each led to the adverse territory. 
Is not this sufficient to excite war he- 
tween the greatest empires! * 
* In perusing the travels of M. Malouet, in the 
forests of Guyana, we shall be speedily convinced 
that ants are not always, even to man, contemptible 
enemies. We have reason to be thankful that 
those of our own country are so innocent, and that 
nature has reduced them to such different dimen- 
sions. ‘I crossed the river,” he says, * with M. de 
Prefontaine, for the purpose of visiting the woods. 
In the midst of a savannah, extending beyond the 
visible horizon, I observed a hillock, which had the 
appearance of being the work of man. Hetold me 
that it was an ant-hill. ‘ What?! said I, ‘ is that 
immense structure the work of an insignificant in- 
sect?’ He proposed to take me, not to the ant- 
hill, where we should have been devoured, but to- 
wards the route of the labourers. In drawing near 
the wood, we saw several columns of these insects ; 
some were going to, others returning from, the 
forest, carrying pieces of leaves, different seeds, and 
roots. These Black Ants were of the largest spe- 
cies; but I had no desire to take a close survey of 
them. Their habitation, to which I approached 
within forty paces, appeared to be from fifteen to 
twenty feet high, and from thirty to forty broad ; 
its form was that of a pyramid, truncated at about 
