208 WHALING AND FISHING. 



issued out against me in innumerable swarms, and 

 beforo I could drop myself down from my eleva- 

 tion, I was completely covered with the vicious 

 creatures, all in a fever of rage, and stinging me 

 to the best of their abilities. 



To pull off my loose shirt was the work of a 

 moment. In the next I was in the water, and my 

 assailants were swimming helplessly about me. 

 This adventure, which procured me a few harm- 

 less stings, satisfied any lingering desire I might 

 have entertained, to examine the interior economy 

 of an ant's nest. After walking about the beach, 

 killing a water snake, picking up a few harp 

 shells, and basking for a while in the genial sun, 

 I returned on board, utterly disgusted with Mad- 

 agascar. With the exception of the lemons found 

 by the Portuguese, we saw nothing eatable on the 

 smaller island. None of the fruit trees generally 

 so plentiful in the tropics, wore here to bo seen, 

 and I doubt if a day's journey through the dense 

 jungle would have produced aught but snakes, of 

 which there seemed a sufficiency to colonize all 

 Ireland. 



A little party was made up, while I was engaged 

 with the ants, to explore a huge, nearly barren 

 rock, lying at a distance of about five inilos from 

 onr mooring place, and between ourselves and the 

 month of the bay. This in our daily whaling 

 excursions we had noted to be the resort of innu- 

 merable fly'ng foxes. I came back too late to join 

 the expedition, bit learned from them that they 



