46 HOMES WITHOUT HANDS. 



among them, and sweeps them into its mouth by hundreds. 

 Perhaps the ants have no conception of their great enemy as a 

 fellow-creature, but look upon the Aard Vark as we look upon 

 the earthquake, the plague, or any other disturbance of the 

 usual routine of nature. Be this as it may, the Aard Vark tears 

 to pieces many a goodly edifice, and depopulates many a swarm- 

 ing colony, leaving a mere shell of irregular stony wall in the 

 place of the complicated and marvellous structure which had 

 sheltered so vast a population. 



The ant-hills thus destroyed are metamorphosed into caverns, 

 which form hiding-places for the jackals and other predaceous 

 beasts, and are resorted to by various serpents. The Kaffir tribes 

 often use them as extemporised burial vaults, and thrust into 

 them the dead bodies of their comrades. Owing to the great 

 burrowing powers of the Aard Vark, the capture of a living speci- 

 men is a task of enormous difficulty, the claws being instruments 

 of excavation that conquer the spade of civilized man. Unless dis- 

 turbed, however, and forced to dig deeper through fear of capture, 

 the Aard Vark makes but a shallow burrow, and lies at a short 

 distance from the surface of the earth. The excavations are, 

 however, deep enough and plentiful enough to be dangerous to 

 the traveller, causing the wheels of wagons to sink into them, 

 so that the machines capsize. Horses, too, frequently fall into 

 these treacherous pitfalls while the hunter is in full chase ; and 

 severe injuries are sometimes the consequence of such a mishap. 



There are two large islands, one large enough to take rank as a 

 continent, which are pre-eminent for the strange character of the 

 creatures which inhabit them. Whenever an animal of more 

 than usual oddity is brought to England, we may safely con- 

 jecture that it was taken either in Madagascar or Australia. The 

 creatures which we are now about to examine are natives of the 

 latter country. 



Perhaps there never was a more extraordinary and unique 

 being than the well-known animal which is so familiar to us 

 under many titles. Some call it the Duckbill, on account of its 

 mandibles, which are ludicrously like those of the bird from 

 which it derives its name. Others call it the Watee Mole, on 

 account of its aquatic habits and mole- like fur. 



