CONTENTS 



PAGE 



CHAPTER I. 



My new station — Arrival at it — Walk round the garden — Discovery 

 of an ant's nest— Habits of the ants— Ants in the house — The 

 little red colony— The day visitors — How the ants discover 

 food — Experiments to ascertain , . . . i 



CHAPTER II. 



My house — Description of it — Also of my garden — How I pass my 

 time — Intensity of the heat and sunlight — Aspect of the land- 

 scape— The ants in the garden — Their diligence — Also their 

 stupidity — Ant-lions — How they construct their pits — 

 Animosity of the small black ants towards them . . 1 5 



CHAPTER III. 



Illustrations of the extreme heat — A dust storm — The river — Its 

 appearance from the garden terrace — The alligators on the sand 

 banks — Alligator stories — The two varieties of alligators — 

 Appearance of an otter — The burtunga ants — A second dust 

 storm — A shower from a cloudless sky — A shower of muddy rain 32 



CHAPTER IV. 



Native visitors — Stories told by — Haunted by a ghost — How my 

 landlords acquired their fortune — A cook's promotion — Escape 

 of a Persian noble from the court of Nadir Shah — Birds on the 

 river — The melon beds — Story of the Emperor Babur — Fighting 

 among the ants — Their tracks — How rapidly they are formed . 50 



CHAPTER V. 



Commencement of the rains — The first shower — Its magical effect — 

 Millions of insects called to life — The * ' beer-bhootees " — A 

 curious insect — Ground spiders, frogs, crickets, flying bugs — 

 Discovery of four toads immured in garden path — Rapid growth 

 of the vegetation — The bamboo— Used formerly for torture — 

 Forms the fortified walls of a city . . . , 69 



ix 



