TRANSPORTING A NAVY THROUGH JUNGLES OF AFRICA 333 



WHITE) ANT-HIL,!, NEAR EUZABETHVHJvE, BELGIAN CONGO 



White ants, or termites, are the bane of Central Africa. Their clay hills, some of which 

 are 40 feet high, dot many regions. They cut through leather and wood and eat away the 

 floors and wooden supports of houses. Thousands often sally forth to make a concerted attack 

 on an enemy or to take possession of a human habitation. 



motor-boats, Mimi and Tou-Tou. They 

 left England on the steamship Llanste- 

 phan Castle on June 12, 191 5, for Cape 

 Town. The motor-boats were stowed on 

 deck in specially constructed cradles. At 

 Cape Town they were transferred to rail- 

 way trucks, and after a journey of 2,488 

 miles they arrived at Elizabethville, in the 

 Belgian Congo. (See Map of Africa, 

 K-12, issued as a supplement with this 

 number of The Geographic.) Here the 



expedition remained a few days, making 

 final arrangements for its trek across 

 country. 



The members of the expedition were 

 feted by the Belgian populace, who, how- 

 ever, were not a bit optimistic about the 

 outcome of our efforts to reach the lake. 

 Among the sporting fraternity of this 

 township the betting against our getting 

 through was 100 to 1. However, "It's 

 dogged as does it" was our watchword, 



