MALACCA. 
9 
warriors in their hundreds ; they make the leaves rattle as if challenging the intruder; they 
have not the least hesitation in attacking anything that comes within reach, when they will 
nip on with jaws like red-hot pincers, that still remain firmly fixed long after the body has 
been pulled off. When I used to find these ants in possession I always gave them a wide 
berth, not even daring to pick up a bird if it fell too near their nests. 
Then, again, there are industrious ants, who turn their attention to one’s garments and 
provisions; they bit out all the sewing of one of my coats, bored holes in a felt hat until it 
looked like a cullender, marched up in processions' on to the breakfast-table and carried off 
my food from under my very nose. Being short of leg, and therefore travelling over the 
ground somewhat slowly, they are assisted by a long-legged black ant, which seems to act 
as a scout: he quickly covers a good deal of ground in search of forage, which, when found, 
he closely examines. Knowing evidently his weakness as a labourer, he quickly disappears 
to return shortly with a gang of red rascals, who soon cut up and carry off the prize. The 
black scouts are very partial to sugar and water, with which they will blow themselves out 
like transparent miniature balloons. Perhaps the worst of tropical ant-pests are the well- 
known white ants or Termites; their depredations on all wood-work are too well known to 
all readers of tropical travel. When I tell you that you may suddenly find your feet going 
through the floors of your best rooms, or that some article of furniture will crumble away in 
your hand, it will serve to give you an idea of the quiet destruction that millions of these 
soft-bodied insects are carrying on day by day. In the forests of Malacca, before the sun is 
too powerful, or in some deeply-shaded spot, an army of Termites, marching four or five 
abreast in most perfect order, may be often met with. On close inspection it will be found 
that the army is composed of apparently two kinds of insects ; they are, however, the 
progeny of one mother, only differently developed, and are the workers and soldiers of the 
nest. Each worker, it will be noticed, is carrying a ball of mud or rotten wood, which will 
be used for enlarging or repairing the nest, a large conical structure, often six feet high, of 
mud, baked as hard as a rock by the sun. I often amused myself by obstructing these 
armies, when the workers would be -thrown into confusion; the soldiers would collect 
together and wag their great heads from side to side, but I fancy fighting is not their forte. 
When we are told, speaking of the curious bag-like female, that “ her fecundity is pro¬ 
digious ; she is supposed to lay more than 31,000,000 eggs in a year,” I shall leave you, 
reader, to form your idea as to the amount of work done by these Termites in a tropical 
forest. I always noticed when they attacked wood in houses or in other dry situations they 
saturated it first with moisture, for which purpose their bladder-like bodies seem well 
adapted. In the forests there are many species of ants which live in small communities of 
less than a dozen, which are extraordinary on account of their protective armour. I noticed 
one species in particular that had a perfect little three-pronged grappling-iron-like weapon 
sticking out from the thorax, which stuck into my fingers when I picked the insect up. So 
it would seem that those species which do not protect themselves by their numbers are 
themselves protected by some weapon-like growth, which would make the wearers a dis¬ 
agreeable morsel to either lizard or bird. 
The most interesting and lively time in a great tropical forest is the early morning at 
sunrise and about an hour before sunset. During the heat of the day even the very 
c 
