"A few minutes after starting, both the steamers stuck fast.
As I was
walking the poop of the diahbeeah, I noticed with the telescope an
antelope standing on the summit of an ant-hill about a mile and a
quarter distant. There is no change so delightful as a little sport if
you are in low spirits; thus, taking the rifle, I rowed up the river for
about half a mile in the small boat, and then landing, I obtained the
right wind. It was exceedingly difficult to approach game in these
extensive treeless flats, and it would have been quite impossible, had
it not been for the innumerable hills of the white ants; these are the
peculiar features of these swampy countries, and the intelligence of the
insects directs their architecture to a height far above the level of
the highest floods. The earth used in their construction is the subsoil,
brought up from a considerable depth, as the ant-hills are yellow, while
the surface soil is black. The earth is first swallowed by the insect
and thus it becomes mixed with some albuminous matter which converts it
into a cement that resists the action of rain. These hills were
generally about eight feet high in the swampy districts, but I have
frequently seen them above ten feet. The antelopes make use of such
ant-hills as watch towers, from which lofty position they can observe an
enemy at a great distance.
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