Chap. V. BITING ANTS. 133 



of the bodies of the vanquished. A gift, analogous to 

 that of language, has not been withheld from ants : if 

 part of their building is destroyed, an official is seen 

 coming out to examine the damage ; and, after a careful 

 survey of the ruins, he chirrups a few clear and distinct 

 notes, and a crowd of workers begin at once to repair the 

 breach. When the work is completed, another order is 

 given, and the workmen retire, as will appear on removing 

 the soft freshly-built portion. We tried to sleep one rainy 

 night in a native hut, but could not because of attacks by 

 the fighting battalions of a very small species of formica, 

 not more than one-sixteenth of an inch in length. It soon 

 became obvious that they were under regular discipline, 

 and even attempting to carry out the skilful plans and 

 stratagems of some eminent leader. Our hands and necks 

 were the first objects of attack. Large bodies of these 

 little pests were massed in silence round the point to be 

 assaulted. We could hear the sharp shrill word of com- 

 mand two or three times repeated, though until then we 

 had not believed in the vocal power of an ant ; the instant 

 after we felt the storming hosts range over head and neck, 

 biting the tender skin, clinging with a death-grip to the 

 hair, and parting with their jaws rather than quit their 

 hold. On our lying down again in the hope of their 

 having been driven off, no sooner was the light out, and 

 all still, than the manoeuvre was repeated. Clear and 

 audible orders were issued, and the assault renewed. It 

 was as hard to sleep in that hut as in the trenches before 

 Sebastopol. The white ant, being a vegetable feeder, 

 devours articles of vegetable origin only, and leather, 

 which, by tanning, is imbued with a vegetable flavour. 

 "A man may be rich to-day and poor to-morrow, from the 

 ravages of white ants," said a Portuguese merchant. " If 

 he gets sick, and unable to look after his goods, his slaves 

 neglect them, and they are soon destroyed by these insects." 



