144 NATURAL HISTORY. [CH. VII. 



the plains you may often observe a broad path, 

 through which you would swear the legions of 

 Xerxes might have passed. The Spaniards hollow 

 out these pyramidal heaps, and use them for ovens, 

 or reduce them to a powder, which, mixed with 

 water, serves admirably to floor houses. Pavements 

 of this kind resemble stone in appearance and hard- 

 ness, and are said to prevent the breeding of fleas 

 and other insects. But hear what mischief ants 

 commit within doors. They flock in a long and 

 almost endless company to the sacks of wheat, and in 

 a journey uninterrupted by day or night (if there be a 

 moon), carry off by degrees some bushels. They 

 will entirely strip fruit trees of their leaves, unless 

 you twist a cow's tail round the trunk to hinder their 

 ascent, and eat away the crops so completely that 

 you would think they had been cut with a sickle. 

 Moreover, ants of various kinds are extremely de- 

 structive both to vineyards and gardens, devouring 

 vegetables and pulse to the very root. Set a young 

 plant in the ground, and the next day you will seek 

 it in vain. They refrain from pepper on account of 

 its pungency. If you leave meat, either dressed or 

 raw, in your apartment, you will soon find it black- 

 ened with swarms of ants. They devour all sorts 

 of trash, the very carcasses of beetles, toads, and 

 snakes. On returning to my apartment, I found a 

 little bird which I kept in a cage devoured by ants. 

 Nor do they abstain from the bodies of sleeping 

 persons. In the dead of the night an army of ants 

 will issue from the wall or pavement, get upon the 

 bed, and unless you instantly make your escape, 

 sting you all over. This happened so frequently in 

 the Guarany colonies, that we were obliged to burn a 

 candle at night ; for lighted sheets of paper thrown 

 upon the swarm are the only means of driving them 

 away. The Portuguese have an old saying, that the 

 ants are queens of Brazil. Certainly we have found 

 them the sovereigns of Paraguay. There may be 



