THE ATTAS AT HOME 177 
rubbed vaseline on my high boots, and about 
the tops bound a band of teased-out absorbent 
cotton. My pick and shovel I treated likewise, 
and thus I was comparatively insulated. With- 
out precautions no living being could withstand 
the slow, implacable attack of disturbed Attas. 
At present I walked unmolested across the glade. 
The millions beneath my feet were as uncon- 
Scious of my presence as they were of the breeze 
in the palm fronds overhead. 
At the first deep shovel thrust, a slow-moving 
flood of reddish-brown began to pour forth from 
the crumbled earth—the outposts of the Atta 
Maxims moving upward to the attack. For a 
few seconds only workers of various sizes ap- 
peared, then an enormous head heaved upward 
and there came into the light of day the first Atta 
soldier. He was twice as large as a large worker 
and heavy in proportion. Instead of being 
drawn up into two spines, the top of his head 
was rounded, bald and shiny, and only at the back 
were the two spines visible, shifted downward. 
The front of the head was thickly clothed with 
golden hair, which hung down bang-like over 
a round, glistening, single, median eye. One by 
one, and then shoulder to shoulder, these Cyelo- 
