The Bayeiye Chief Palani Visiting Us While Eating,
I Gave Him A Piece Of Bread And Preserved Apricots; And As He Seemed
To Relish It Much, I Asked Him If He Had Any Food Equal To That
In His Country.
"Ah!" said he, "did you ever taste white ants?"
As I never had, he replied, "Well, if you had,
You never could have desired
to eat any thing better." The general way of catching them
is to dig into the ant-hill, and wait till the builders come forth
to repair the damage, then brush them off quickly into a vessel,
as the ant-eater does into his mouth.
The fall of the rain makes all the cattle look fresh and clean,
and both men and women proceed cheerily to their already hoed gardens,
and sow the seed. The large animals in the country leave the spots
where they had been compelled to congregate for the sake of water,
and become much wilder. Occasionally a herd of buffaloes or antelopes
smell rain from afar, and set off in a straight line toward the place.
Sometimes they make mistakes, and are obliged to return to the water
they had left.
Very large tracts of country are denuded of old grass during the winter
by means of fire, in order to attract the game to that which there springs up
unmixed with the older crop. This new herbage has a renovating tendency,
for as long as they feed on the dry grass of the former season
they continue in good condition; but no sooner are they able to indulge
their appetites on the fresh herbage, than even the marrow in their bones
becomes dissolved, and a red, soft, uneatable mass is left behind.
After this commences the work of regaining their former plumpness.
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