(^iTAP. IX. THE BASHIKOUAY ANTS. 181) 



and savage little creatures, who bit me dreadfully. 

 I was driven almost mad with pain. I did not dare 

 to light paper or apply fire to the invading horde of 

 ants, inside the place, on account of the quantity of 

 gunpowder stored in my chamber ; thus I had to 

 abandon my house to the irresistible ants, who had 

 become perfect masters of it. I at once called my 

 men, and we succeeded in finding the line of the 

 invading host outside of the house ; to this we applied 

 fire, and burnt many thousands of them ; but it was 

 not until half-past two in the morning that the house 

 was cleared. 



When I rose, feverish and unrefreshed, the next 

 morning, I found the Bashikouays again in the house. 

 This time they emerged from a number of holes 

 which had newly made their appearance in the 

 ground near my house, and which were the mouths 

 of the tunnels or galleries leading from their sub- 

 terranean abodes. I was thankful that it was day- 

 time, for if it had been night they would not have 

 been long before j)aying me another visit. An in- 

 vasion of a sleeping-chamber by these ants at night 

 is a very serious matter, for an army of Bashikouays 

 swarming over the body during sleep would wake 

 a person up rather disagreeably. There can be no 

 doubt that if a man were firmly tied to a bed so that 

 he could not escape, he would be entirely eaten up by 

 these ants in a short space of time. I have heard 

 that men have been put to death for witchcraft in this 

 way. Happily their bite is not venomous. We 

 poured boiling water down the newly-made galleries 

 and over the columns of ants that were issuing from 



