56 CRUSOE'S ISLAND. 



the mouths of which are stopped up with a few 

 leaves. 



" It is a rather singular sight to see for the first 

 time an Indian taking his breakfast in the 'sauba' 

 season. The insects are actually eaten alive, the ant 

 being held by its head, as we would hold a strawberry 

 by its stem, and the abdomen bitten off. The only 

 part eaten is the abdomen, which is very rich and fatty, 

 from the mass of undeveloped eggs. Having secured 

 the edible part of the ant, the head and thorax, with 

 the wings and legs attached, are thrown to the ground, 

 where the wretched insect crawls about as though un- 

 aware of the loss of its posterior extremities. The 

 Indians not only eat them fresh, but also smoke and 

 salt them for future use, regarding them as the choic- 

 est of their dainties." 



I was not aware of all the uses to which these ants 

 could be put, when they crossed my trail in the woods ; 

 but if I had been, I doubt greatly that I should have 

 considered them available as articles of diet, even 

 though my larder was not always well supplied. 



I did not suffer from lack of sustenance, to be 

 sure, but I craved greater variety ; so one day I cut 

 down a tall "palmiste," or cabbage palm, in order 

 to obtain its terminal bud, which is most delicious 

 boiled and served as cabbage or cauliflower. It 

 might seem an act of vandalism, this cutting down a 

 tree over a hundred feet in height ; but as there were 

 thousands of those palms, and no one had a better 

 claim to them than myself, I felt that it would not be 

 very much missed. 



