A PLAGUE OF ANTS. 171 



the saved ; and with characteristic energy he set to work, while under the ho- 

 spitable roof of Colonel Pires, to re- write his journal. Colonel Pires had two 

 estates, and was the most energetic and successful planter of the district. 

 His slaves, in consequence of being so well treated, might readily, from their 

 zeal and efficient service, have been taken for free servants. Through his 

 exertions the district has become the garden of Angola, producing abundant 

 crops of figs, grapes, wheat, butter, cheese, &c, &c. Coming to the country 

 as a servant on board ship, Colonel Pires, by his skill and perseverance, had 

 become the richest merchant in the country. He could number his cattle 

 by thousands, and, if need were, could have defended himself and his property 

 with several hundred armed slaves, who would have fought for him with 

 willing devotedness. 



The fort and village of Pungo Andongo are situated in the midst of a 

 group of rocky columns, several of which are over three hundred feet in 

 height, and about one hundred feet in width at the base. As the village is 

 situated in an open space in the centre of these rocks, and is only reached by 

 narrow and circuitous roads, commanded by the rocks, it must have been a 

 place of great strength when the country was in an unsettled state under the 

 Jingas, the original possessors of the country. This warlike tribe, which was 

 driven out of their territory by the Portuguese, have settled farther to the 

 north, where they maintain an independent existence. 



Crossing the Coanza and several of its tributaries, they reached Tala 

 Mungongo, where they made a short stay, and suffered from a plague of red 

 ants, which were so numerous and so formidable that slaves were obliged to 

 sit up all night burning fires of straw round the slaughtered carcase of a cow, 

 otherwise the insects would have devoured it. These march in a compact band, 

 several inches wide, and attack man and every animal crossing their track 

 with determined pugnacity. The stinging pain caused by their bites is com- 

 pared by Livingstone to that produced by sparks of fire falling upon the bare 

 skin. They perform considerable service in devouring any carrion they 

 come across, and by eating the white ants, rats, and mice, small snakes, and 

 even the large pythons, when they find them in a state of surfeit. They do 

 not form hills like the white ants, but construct their nests in burrows at 

 some distance from the surface of the ground. 



At Cassange he was again hospitably entertained by Captain Neves; and 

 during his short stay he finished the re- writing of his journal, and to his great 

 joy received a packet of the Times newspaper, which gave him, among other 

 news, " an account of the Russian war up to the terrible charge of the light 

 brigade. The intense anxiety I felt to hear more may be imagined by every 

 true patriot ; but I was forced to live on in silent thought, and utter my poor 

 prayers for friends who, perchance, were now no more, until I reached the 

 other side of the continent." When he next came within reach 01 news from 



