Byrani and Ghopal. 



207 



quence of communication from the ant I 

 pointed out to you, and what is more, they 

 all know what they are going for. While I 

 have been watching I have observed that 

 all that have been communicated with, ex- 

 cept one little party of about a dozen or so, 

 have obeyed the summons, so that the dis- 

 covery is evidently something out of the 

 common." 



" It will not take much labor," said Gho- 

 pal, "to see what it is. The ants, I can see 

 from here, are all stopping at that fork up 

 there, and they must have found a hole in 

 the tree, for they all disappear." 



"Be careful you do not tread on any of 

 them," said Byram, as Ghopal began to 

 ascend the tree. Ghopal made no answer, 

 but very soon he was at the fork indicated, 

 trying to penetrate its mysteries with eye 

 and nose. Then he broke off a small dry 

 branch, and after some poking, succeeded 

 in -raising the dead body of a small squir- 

 rel, which he laid hold of with his finger 

 and thumb and pulled out of the hole, but 

 quickly dropped to the ground, for it was 

 covered with ants. 



Some of the little people got bruised or 

 had their limbs injured by the fall, and 

 these hobbled off to make room for active 

 workers, and very soon the carcass was 

 covered with as many ants as could find 

 room to seize a mouthful in their little 

 jaws. 



"There," said Byram, "you see the crea- 

 tures next to man in the scale of intelli- 

 gence." 



"You do not surely mean to say," asked 

 Ghopal, "that you would rank the ants 

 above the dog or the elephant ?" 



" I do not think there are any points of 

 comparison," said Byram. "If we under- 

 stood the ants' language, or methods of 

 communication, we should not only find 

 them capable of understanding our social 

 organization, but ready to condemn it as 

 inferior to their own in many respects; but 

 however freely we might be able to com- 



municate with dogs or elephants, we should 

 find such subjects beyond their comprehen- 

 sion. Some of the ants keep slaves, some 

 of them keep nectar insects, which they 

 take the nectar from daily, just as men keep 

 cows for milking. Sometimes two commu- 

 nities of ants engage in war with each other. 

 Then, again, they are a provident people, 

 laying up store of food for the winter, and 

 in fact act so much like men that they 

 must necessarily think as men do on such 

 subjects." 



"Have they any money-lenders among 

 them?" asked Ghopal. 



"No," said Byram; " fortunately they are 

 free from the human failing of avarice. 

 There is nothing like lust of gold among 

 them, but they experience lust of power 

 just as men do. That is what prompts 

 them to make war on other communities. 

 The conquerors become a privileged class, 

 and make the conquered perform the heavi- 

 est work. In fact, they have tried so many 

 experiments in social life that it would be 

 very interesting to discuss such subjects 

 with them and get the views of enlightened 

 ants on the social problems of the age. In 

 some respects they are certainly superior 

 to men. They cannot control fire, nor turn 

 it to any useful account, as even savage 

 nations can; but in the matter of govern- 

 ment and social organization they are on a 

 par with civilized nations." 



"But what do they do for men ?" asked 

 Ghopal; "anything like the white ants and 

 the worms.''" 



"Every creature that lives," said Byram, 

 "contributes all its life, with its droppings 

 and finally with its body, to the enrichment 

 of the soil. The ants perform an impor- 

 tant share of the general duty, for no crea- 

 ture can crawl anywhere to die but the ants 

 will soon find it. This labor of scavenging, 

 shared in by the ants, the jackals and the 

 vultures, is a most important one for man. 

 If it were neglected, the air would be 

 poisoned by putrid exhalations from decay- 



