CARAVAN LIFE 



25 



creature is the tiny little "worker." Among the "workers" may 

 be seen a somewhat larger variety armed with a pair of pincers. 

 These are the " warriors," which come rushing to a breach and 

 will fiercely attack any piece of wood held out for them to bite at. 

 But a curious member of this strange community is the large, 

 black-bodied, and winged white-ant, about an inch long, which 

 issues at certain seasons from vent-holes of the white-ant hillock 

 by the million. The winged termite forms part of the native 



A WHITE-ANT HILLOCK. 



food. In Kavirondo I have seen natives cluster round such 

 an issuing swarm, catch them by the handful and eat them up 

 alive. In Uganda the natives place a sort of reed frame over the 

 hillock and cover it up with bark-cloth, leaving the vent-hole 

 open, and digging near it a pit into which the ants tumble by the 

 hundred. It is curious to see how these winged ants tear off 

 their own wings as soon as they touch the ground. White-ants 

 are dried by the bushel, and form an article of commerce. On 

 the march through Bulamwezi I had a chance of trying a dish of 

 them fried. They are not at all bad, and supply nitrogenous 

 food where the meat-supply falls short. The chief objection to 



