448 
ANT-HILLS. 
13 Nov. 
We travelled over a plaip of boundless extent, producing much 
grass, in some places, and a few bushes of Tarchonanthus and Rhi- 
gozum. The soil seemed excellent, and capable of producing abun- 
dance of corn, if managed with due attention to the rainy season : 
it had the appearance of good loam, but was rather a mixture of 
clay and sand. At this time, all the grass, though still standing, 
was completely dried up like hay ; and if it had been set on fire, 
the conflagration would have spread with the greatest rapidity over 
the plain. 
Innumerable ant-hills, of large dimensions, interrupted the even- 
ness of the surface. * They were of an obtuse conical form, and so 
hard and firm, as to bear the weight of a man, yet the wheels of a 
loaded waggon easily cut through them. Sometimes, however, they 
are found to resist even this weight, and, in such cases, are carefully 
avoided to prevent an overturn. This hardness is, perhaps, owing 
rather to the nature of the soil than to a different species of insect. 
The height of the hillocks was generally from two to three feet, but 
higher were not unfrequently seen. Their structure was irregu^ 
larly cellular, and not unlike a volcanic honeycomb-stone ; or rather 
consisted of perforations, or passages, opening into each other, with- 
out any apparently methodical plan. I brought away a piece of the 
Jiillock, and some of its laborious little architects, f In this en- 
* The engraving at page 446, may give an idea of these ant-hills, and of the ap- 
pearance of the countr^. These hillocks are not unfrequently met with of larger dimen- 
sions than are here represented ; but extraordinary as they may appear to a European 
eye, care has been taken to avoid exaggerating their magnitude, and they may be 
regarded as not exceeding the average dimensions. The bush on the left in the 
foreground, is intended to show the singular ramification of the Driedoorn. [Rhigozum 
trichotomum.) The larger bush on the right, is a Tarchonanthus, and near to it, two 
hillocks exhibit the manner in which the ant-eater (see page 342) scratches holes in them 
in order to disturb and get at the ants. It has also been attempted, as well as this style 
of engraving admits of, to represent the picturesque effect of journeying over a country 
without roads, and the deep track of the waggon wheels over an untravelled soil. 
f A. species of the genus Formica of Linnaeus, and of the sub-genus Polyergus oi 
Latreille. 
Nigrescens. Abdomen rufo-pilosum, maculis tribus nudis nigris. Maxillae septem- 
dentatae, dente ultimo acuto reliquis duplo longiore. 
