Driver Ants 
fine collection was handed over to the museum, 
many insects among the lot being new to London. 
On my return some months later I went to the 
Natural History Museum, hoping to see the 
results of my gift, and was met with so much 
red tape that I thereupon made a vow never 
again to go out of my way to collect anything 
for it. The officials seemed to think I was 
presuming when I asked to be shown the speci- 
mens I had taken so much trouble to procure, 
and all I could get out of them was that my 
offering “had been incorporated in the collec- 
tion.” 
Among other things I sent home were the 
shells of some edible snails, which were coloured 
dark brown, banded with yellow, some of them 
measuring four inches by two. I had noticed 
a heap of them in the native town amongst 
the huts, and asked one of the niggers, who 
spoke English, what they were for. ‘‘ Heap 
good chop,” he answered, which, being inter- 
preted, means, ‘‘ Plenty good food,’’ so I told 
him to bring me a supply to the Consulate. 
“Them big house that live for hill.” 
I put some of the snails into a large glass jar 
filled with water, and placed a piece of glass over 
the top. When snails are treated in this fashion 
they exhaust all the air in the jar and come out 
of their residences to avoid suffocation. In a 
couple of hours the animals had entirely left 
41 
