SOUTH AMERICA. 175 



and in the trees. They have nests in the branches, THIRD 



* JOURNEY. 



four or five times as large as that of the rook ; - 

 and they have a covered way from them to the 

 ground. In this covered way thousands are 

 perpetually passing and repassing ; and if you 

 destroy part of it, they turn to, and immediately 

 repair it. 



Other species of ants again have no covered 

 way ; but travel, exposed to view, upon the 

 surface of the earth. You will sometimes see 

 a string of these ants a mile long, each carrying 

 in its mouth to its nest a green leaf, the size 

 of a sixpence. It is wonderful to observe the 

 order in which they move, and with what pains 

 and labour they surmount the obstructions of 

 the path. 



The ants have their enemies, as well as the Three 



. ' species of 



rest of animated nature. Amongst the foremost Ant-bea. 

 of these stand the three species of ant-bears. 

 The smallest is not much larger than a rat ; 

 the next is nearly the size of a fox; and the 

 third a stout and powerful animal, measuring 

 about six feet from the snout to the end of the 

 tail. He is the most inoffensive of all animals, 

 and never injures the property of man. He is 

 chiefly found in the inmost recesses of the forest, 

 and seems partial to the low and swampy parts 

 near creeks, where the troely tree grows. There 

 he goes up and down in quest of ants, of which 

 there is never the least scarcity; so that he soon 



