276 
KIDNAPPING THE YOUNG. 
choked and burning, crowded and furious, mounted one upon another. 
As the discomfiture of the giants became a thing assured, horrible appe¬ 
tites were revealed among the blacks. An opportune moment arrived. 
It was a dramatic stroke ! In their mute but terribly eloquent panto¬ 
mime, we heard this cry : “ Their young ones are fat!” 
The gluttonous army of the lean threw themselves on the children. 
The latter, belonging to a superior race, were sufficiently heavy; and 
more, their oblong nymph-like envelope, round and smooth, offered no 
points of vantage. Two, three, four little blacks, by combining their 
efforts, succeeded, though not without difficulty, in carrying a single 
one of these up the smooth sides of the earthen vase. Then they came 
abruptly to a terrible resolve,—to seize upon the maillots , to bear off 
the naked children. It was no easy matter, for the little one clung 
stoutly, and its interwoven limbs were, so to speak, soldered together; 
in such wise that this violent and sudden development could only be 
effected by severe wounds,—in fact, by quartering them. The black 
ants then carried them off, torn and palpitating. 
At the commencement of this kidnapping of children, we had ex¬ 
pected to see some such spectacle as a razzia of slaves, which is only 
too common among both men and ants. But we now understood that 
something more was meditated. In drawing them cruelly from their 
outer coat, which is to them the very necessity of life, it became too 
evident that their captors cared very little whether they lived or did 
not live. It was for their flesh they seized them; as a tender prey for 
the young ones they had left at home, the fat children being delivered 
up alive to the furious appetites of the lean! 
To understand the horror of the scene, you must know the true 
nature of the large eggs of the ants,—improperly called eggs, but in 
reality their nymphs or chrysalides,—diminutive organized ants which, 
under a thin veil, strengthen their tender, delicate, and still soft 
existence. They remain in this envelope for the purpose of accomplish¬ 
ing a progress of successive solidification and colouring. 
The very fine and wonderfully soft web which they weave for 
themselves is, as we know, of a dull white, lightly shaded with a deli¬ 
cate yellow, which, when stronger, turns into a nankeen tint. Open 
