A Breath from the Veldt 283 



he would have to drop his dead or dying victim, to relieve himself from their 

 torments. Sometimes — indeed far too often — the poor little red ant had no 

 friends to help him, and then he was quickly disposed of The hinder portion 

 of the insect is all that is devoured. An ant's appetite and digestion must be 

 first-class, for I saw one of them devour no less than five of the smaller sort 

 before he was attacked and beaten off for a time. In one case where a battle 

 was protracted, and the combatants evenly matched, I got quite excited, and 

 seizing a large sheet of white paper, I slipped it under the insects the better 

 to see them. They did not seem to mind this in the least, but went on with 

 their fight ; and I had thus a perfect view of their movements. The big ant's 

 attitudes as he wrung his sore legs and antennas after being temporarily worsted 

 were almost human to look at. So fertile and interesting is Africa in its 

 entomology alone, that even though I am not a " bug-and-beetle " man myself, 

 I could well devote a chapter to the strange doings of insects that I casually 

 noticed without paying much attention to them. 



Two days later I was fortunate enough to see another sight that would have 

 delighted any lover of nature, whether specialist or otherwise. As we were 

 trekking up by the side of the river we suddenly came on a great army of black 

 ants on the march. From a military point of view, the movement was simply 

 perfect — so perfect, indeed, and so unlike anything one would expect to find in 

 the insect world, that readers who have not done their Lubbock or gone in for 

 watching ants abroad or at home may think me guilty of a hunter's yarn as I 

 relate what I actually saw. We encountered the column about mid-day, when 

 they were doubtless changing their ground to some more suitable locality, and 

 being much interested, I stopped the waggon and for several minutes watched 

 the army on the move. It was about as like a regiment on the march as 

 anything could possibly be. As nearly as I could estimate the number, there 

 were about two or three thousand big ants, and all were formed into " fours," 

 though (in military phrase) the fours did not keep their " dressing." The 

 outside members of each four never moved from their position, but the insiders 

 kept constantly changing places across the column. If at any moment they 

 were more than four deep, it was only for an instant while crossing a rough 

 place. They moved along like a huge black serpent, and were led by a single 

 ant, who examined the ground like a scout, while the column implicitly 

 followed all his movements and (apparently) his directions. Indeed, so far as I 

 could see, they did everything that soldiers do, except swear and smoke ; and 

 as to swearing, they may have done that for aught I know. 



