Chap. XVI. BASHIKOUAY ANTS. 333 



without being half devoured by them. They were 

 attracted, no doubt, by a quarter of goat's meat 

 hanging in the chamber, for, unfortunately, my 

 sleeping-room is obliged to be also my store-room. 

 The men hastened to fetch hot ashes to spread over 

 the floor, which was black with the shining bodies 

 of these most destructive ants, who come to their 

 work in dense masses. Had their progress not been 

 checked they would have finished our goat-meat in 

 a very short time, for they were already climbing 

 the walls, and we had to sweep them down on the 

 hot cinders, not daring to apply a torch to the wall 

 of such a combustible edifice as an Ashango hut. 

 After killing thousands in this manner the remainder 

 were scared away, and I spent the rest of the night 

 in peace. 



I have given an account of this ant in my 'Adven- 

 tures in Equatorial Africa,' and have little to add 

 regarding it in this place. But one can never cease 

 to wonder at the marvellous habits and instincts of 

 these extraordinary creatures, whose natural history 

 is still but imperfectly known. The individuals 

 which form the armies of the Bashikouays are only 

 the worker or neuter caste of the species. It is well 

 known that the males and females of ants, which 

 alone propagate their kind, are winged, and take no 

 part in the various kinds of industry which render 

 ants such remarkable insects. The armies of the 

 Bashikouays seem for ever on the march, clearing 

 the ground of every fragment of animal substance, 

 dead or alive, which they can obtain or overpower ; 

 and, so furious are their onslaughts on the person ol 



