INJURIOUS TO MAN. 273 



savage king, to whom a traveller presented some apricot 

 jam, declared it to be the best food he knew next to 

 Termites. 



Then, the nests which these insects rear are of great 

 service to the savage. There are several animals, popu- 

 larly called Ant Bears, which feed chiefly on the Termites, 

 or White Ants, as they are wrongly called. These crea- 

 tures are furnished with enormous claws, with which they 

 tear out the whole interior of the nest, leaving nothing 

 but the shell of clay, baked as hard as a brick in the 

 sunbeams. 



Such empty nests serve several purposes. In the first 

 place they are utilised as ovens, in which the native 

 hunters can cook the animals killed by them. 



Then, such savages as build huts find that nothing 

 makes so good a floor for their houses as Termites nests 

 ground into a powder mixed with water, beaten down 

 until quite smooth and level, and left to harden in the 

 rays of the tropical sun. 



Lastly, they serve as tombs for the dead. The corpse 

 is thrust into the empty nest through the hole left by 

 the Ant Bear, the aperture is closed with stones and 

 thorns, and there the body may remain undisturbed by 

 any foe except man. 



The common Water-Boatman insects, which are 

 shaped so much like boats, swim on their keel-shaped 

 backs, and use their long hind legs as oars. All of 

 them possess sharp, strong beaks, capable of penetrat- 

 ing the human skin, and depositing in the wound a 

 T 



