342 SPORT, TRAVEL, AND ADVENTURE 



Mr. Wi. C. Scully tells the following yarn in his 

 reminiscences of South African life. 1 "At the end of 

 the sixties no Zoological Garden contained a specimen 

 of the South African ant-eater. I do not know whether 

 any such institution contains one now. However, a 

 very liberal price was offered for a live specimen. 

 This extraordinary creature is almost strictly nocturnal 

 in its habits, and is consequently extremely difficult 

 to capture. One day a man with whom I was 

 acquainted was riding through the veld a few miles 

 from his camp. To his surprise he noticed a large ant- 

 eater. Mindful of the reward offered, he sprang from 

 his horse and seized the creature by one of its hind legs . 



The ant-eater has hardly any means of defence, its 

 formidable claws being used solely for digging. But 

 its strength and its digging powers are almost beyond 

 belief. In sandy soil one will bury itself in a few 

 seconds. In this instance the captor had to exert all 

 his strength merely to keep the animal above ground. 

 He was, in fact, only able to do this by means of con- 

 tinually shifting his position, a process involving con- 

 stant and exhausting effort. He bethought him of the 

 rein fastened to his pony's halter. With great diffi- 

 culty he loosened this, and tied it in a noose around 

 the ant-bear's loins. But matters were not improved ; 

 the digging went on more vigorously than ever. 



At length he realized that it was impossible to pre- 

 vent the animal from burrowing out of sight. One 

 expedient remained. The pony had a long and bushy 

 tail. He doubled the end of this, and securely fastened 

 the rein to it. Then he hastened, to his camp for the pur- 

 pose of fetching a spade and calling people to assist him. 

 1 See Bibliography, 13. 



