ANT-EATERS. 



177 



and Zululand, ant-hills will be found all over the 

 country, frequently not as much as fifty yards apart. 

 These structures in this part of the country are often 

 quite three feet high, with a diameter at their base 

 of seven or eight feet ; and so hard are they that it 

 is not uncommon for a lightly loaded wagon to pass 

 over them without breaking their surface : but this 

 ant-eater in ten minutes' labour will make a hole in 

 them large enough to bury an ordinary terrier in. 

 When the retreats of the insect inhabitants are thus 

 laid bare, their enemy places his long and slimy 

 tongue over the principal thoroughfares, and when 

 that member is covered with prey the mass of life 

 is drawn in and rapidly devoured. 



The flesh of this ant-eater is exceedingly good 

 eating, resembling young pork in both appearance and 

 taste, and is consequently eagerly sought after by the 

 Bechuanas ; for that reason, if for no other, it deserves 

 a place among the game of their habitat. 



Of one thing I would warn the inexperienced : 

 handle it and the pangolin, when dead, as little as 

 possible until they have been scalded, or submitted 

 to a good singeing, for they both possess innumer- 

 able parasites, which have the bad, or good taste, 



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