198 
SAGACITY OF ANTO 
Heavy rains prevented us from crossing the plain in front 
(Nl.ff.) in one day, and tho constant wading among the 
grass hurt the feet of the men. There is a footpath all the 
way across, but, as this is worn down beneath the level of 
the rest of tho plain, it is nocessarily the deepest portion, 
and the men, avoiding it, make a new walk by its side. A 
path, however narrow, is a great convenience, as any one 
who has travelled on foot in Africa will admit. Tho virtual 
want of it here caused us to mako slow and painful progress. 
Ants surely are wiser than some men, for they learn by 
experience. Thoy have established themselves even on 
those plains, whore water stands so long annually as to 
allow tho lotus, and other aqueous plants, to come to matu- 
rity. When all tho ant-horizon is submerged a foot deep, 
thoy manage to exist by ascending to littlo houses built of 
black tenacious loam on stalks of grass and placed higher 
than the line of inundation. This must have been the re- 
sult of experionco ; for, if they had waited till the water 
actually invaded their terrestrial habitations, they would not 
have been able to procure materials for their aerial quarters 
unless they dived down to tho bottom for every mouthful 
of clay. Some of these upper chambers are about the size 
of a bean, and others as large as a man’s thumb. Thoy 
must have built in anticipation ; and, if so, let us humbly 
hope that the sufferers by the late inundations in France 
may bo possessed of as much common sense as the little 
black ants of the Dilolo plains. 
