THE BASHIKOUAY ANT. 115 
living thing in its way. I was almost crazy, for they 
were in my clothes and on my body, and often when they 
gave a bite a little piece of flesh would come out. 
When I thought I was out of reach I immediately 
took off my clothes. They had, in their fury, literally 
buried themselves in these, and their pincers were deep 
into them; and like the fierce bull-dog of our own coun- 
try, when once they bite they never let go their hold; 
and many and many a time their bodies were severed — 
from their head as I pulled them out; their pincers clung 
still to my flesh. 
_ I defy any living man to stand quiet before an army 
of bashikouay ; he would certainly be killed and devour- 
ed. This was incontestably the largest army of bashi- 
kouay I have ever seen, and how it swept over the forest, 
driving every thing before it! 
These little ants are more powerful when combined 
in such an army than any living thing in the forest. 
All other animate things are put to flight before their 
march. It is-only in the interior that one can have an 
idea of their number. 
_I dressed myself again, and began to breathe freely, 
when lo! these bashikouay were again coming in my 
direction. So I fled, striking for a path that led.to a 
stream, and at last reached the wet and swampy grounds, 
which I knew they would not care to approach if they 
continued to spread and advance in the direction I had 
taken. 
How many and how many tifnes I have been dis- 
turbed by these ants in the forests of Africa! 
Ofall the ants which inhabit the regions I have ex- 
plored, the most dreaded of all is the bashikouay ; it is 
