UGANDA AND WEST SIDE OF VICTORIA NYANZA. 255 
What eccentricities of creation I became acquainted 
with in this truanting in the wild woods ! Ants, red, 
black, yellow, grey, white, and particoloured, peopling 
a miniature world with unknown emmet races. Here 
were some members of the belligerent warrior caste 
always threatening the harmless, and seeking whom 
they might annoy, and there the ferocious food- 
providers, active for the attack, ranging bole, bough, 
twigs and leaf for prey ; the meek and industrious 
artisans absorbed in defending the poor privilege of a 
short existence ; the frugal neuters tugging enormous 
loads towards their cunningly constructed nests ; sentries 
on watch at the doors to defend the approaches to their 
fastnesses. They swarmed among the foliage in columns 
of foraging and plundering marauders and countless 
hordes of ruthless destroyers. In the decaying vegeta- 
tion I heard all around me the xylophagous larvae of 
great beetles hard at w T ork by thousands, and saw 
myriads of termites destroying with industrious fury 
everything that lay in their path, whether animal or 
vegetable. Armies of psyllse and moths innumerable 
were startled from the bushes, and from every bough 
shrilled the tiresome cicada, ever noisy. Here the 
relentless ant-lions prepared their pitfalls, and there the 
ghostly mantis, green or grey, stood waiting for unwary 
insects. Diamond beetles abounded, and many other 
species, uncouth and horrid, scrambled away from before 
my feet. Nor are these a thousandth part of the insect 
nations that I disturbed ; the secluded island' was a 
world of infinite activities. 
Beyond the flats I came at last to where the ground 
sloped upward rapidly, though still clothed with tall 
trees and their parasitical plants and undergrowth ; and 
in spite of the intense heat, I continued my exploration, 
determined to view the upper regions. Clambering up 
the steep side, I had a large choice of supports ; here a 
tamarind and next a bombax, now a projecting branch 
of mimosa and now a thick lliane, hung down, inviting 
me to haul myself upward and forward ; the young and 
pliant teak sapling or slender jasmine bent as I seized 
