COMPOUND ANT-HILLS. 279 
ried, and, as already stated, the same 
nest is often pillaged several times suc- 
eessively; but they never destroy those 
ant-hills from which they have carried 
off the young. In the combats, that al- 
most invariably take place, but very few 
Negro Ants perish, since their adver- 
saries have no desire of making them 
prisoners, or of disputing the possession 
of their invaded city. I have some- 
times seen the Amazons, when disposed 
in column, take one direction, then sud- 
denly return to the garrison, and again 
proceed in a contrary direction. I have 
also witnessed their army, but very 
rarely, separate into two divisions, each 
taking a different route. ‘The smallest 
division, however, on perceiving it is not 
in sufficient force, falls back, and rejoins 
the other; but when their force is nearly 
equal, each party goes to pillage sepa- 
rately, and returns to the garrison laden 
with booty. It is not so much by their 
real force, as by their impetuosity, that 
they succeed in spreading dismay among 
