TERMITES AND ANTS. 319 



We cannot proceed far into the heart of the woods 

 without a special provision of hatchets or machettes to 

 hew for ourselves a passage ; for the twisted lianes, 

 like cords and cables, stretch from tree to tree, inter- 

 lacing and forming treacherous loops and nooses ; 

 and many of these are so terribly spinous that they 

 cannot be touched with impunity. Fallen trees lie 

 in every direction, presenting thickets of branches ; 

 or the trunks are so decayed, that when you have 

 climbed on one to get over, it gives way beneath 

 your feet, and lets you suddenly down into a grave of 

 saturated rotten wood. The Duck-ants, or Termites, 

 have built their great earthy nests, like barrels, here 

 and there, and you are in perpetual peril of treading 

 on then* galleries, and bringing an army of ferocious 

 biting insects upon you ; or you sit down to wipe 

 your perspiring brows, and in an instant are covered 

 with a host of great Coromantee Ants, more furious 

 than lions, the nip of whose immense jaws is enough 

 to throw a man into a fever. 



We are not yet at the top of this mountain-range. 

 Let us return to our horses, and go higher yet. Cool, 

 delightfully cool, as contrasted with the parched 

 plains, are these elevated regions ; and very pleasant 

 is a ride up this narrow bridle-path, turning and 

 winding to ease the ascent. Now we break out on a 

 new view of the silvery ocean sparkling under a ver- 

 tical sun ; now we obtain a magnificent glance over 

 the mountain-forest, and over successive ranges of 

 hills, range beyond range, far into the interior. Now, 



