More timid by nature than the males, and very motherly
in their anxiety for their calves, they carry their trunks up, trying
every breeze for fancied danger, which often in reality lies at their
feet.
The tusker, fearing less, keeps his trunk down, and, warned in
time by that exquisitely sensitive organ, takes heed to his ways.
Our camp on the Sinjere stood under a wide-spreading wild fig-tree.
From the numbers of this family, of large size, dotted over the
country, the fig or banyan species would seem to have been held
sacred in Africa from the remotest times. The soil teemed with white
ants, whose clay tunnels, formed to screen them from the eyes of
birds, thread over the ground, up the trunks of trees, and along the
branches, from which the little architects clear away all rotten or
dead wood. Very often the exact shape of branches is left in tunnels
on the ground and not a bit of the wood inside. The first night we
passed here these destructive insects ate through our grass-beds, and
attacked our blankets, and certain large red-headed ones even bit our
flesh.
On some days not a single white ant is to be seen abroad; and on
others, and during certain hours, they appear out of doors in
myriads, and work with extraordinary zeal and energy in carrying bits
of dried grass down into their nests. During these busy reaping-fits
the lizards and birds have a good time of it, and enjoy a rich feast
at the expense of thousands of hapless workmen; and when they swarm
they are caught in countless numbers by the natives, and their
roasted bodies are spoken of in an unctuous manner as resembling
grains of soft rice fried in delicious fresh oil.
A strong marauding party of large black ants attacked a nest of white
ones near the camp: as the contest took place beneath the surface,
we could not see the order of the battle; but it soon became apparent
that the blacks had gained the day, and sacked the white town, for
they returned in triumph, bearing off the eggs, and choice bits of
the bodies of the vanquished. A gift, analogous to that of language,
has not been withheld from ants: if part of their building is
destroyed, an official is seen coming out to examine the damage; and,
after a careful survey of the ruins, he chirrups a few clear and
distinct notes, and a crowd of workers begin at once to repair the
breach. When the work is completed, another order is given, and the
workmen retire, as will appear on removing the soft freshly-built
portion. We tried to sleep one rainy might in a native hut, but
could not because of attacks by the fighting battalions of a very
small species of formica, not more than one-sixteenth of an inch in
length. It soon became obvious that they were under regular
discipline, and even attempting to carry out the skilful plans and
stratagems of some eminent leader. Our hands and necks were the
first objects of attack. Large bodies of these little pests were
massed in silence round the point to be assaulted. We could hear the
sharp shrill word of command two or three times repeated, though
until then we had not believed in the vocal power of an ant; the
instant after we felt the storming hosts range over head and neck,
biting the tender skin, clinging with a death-grip to the hair, and
parting with their jaws rather than quit their hold. On our lying
down again in the hope of their having been driven off, no sooner was
the light out, and all still, than the manoeuvre was repeated. Clear
and audible orders were issued, and the assault renewed. It was as
hard to sleep in that hut as in the trenches before Sebastopol. The
white ant, being a vegetable feeder, devours articles of vegetable
origin only, and leather, which, by tanning, is imbued with a
vegetable flavour. "A man may be rich to-day and poor to-morrow,
from the ravages of white ants," said a Portuguese merchant. "If he
gets sick, and unable to look after his goods, his slaves neglect
them, and they are soon destroyed by these insects." The reddish
ant, in the west called drivers, crossed our path daily, in solid
columns an inch wide, and never did the pugnacity of either man or
beast exceed theirs. It is a sufficient cause of war if you only
approach them, even by accident. Some turn out of the ranks and
stand with open mandibles, or, charging with extended jaws, bite with
savage ferocity. When hunting, we lighted among them too often;
while we were intent on the game, and without a thought of ants, they
quietly covered us from head to foot, then all began to bite at the
same instant; seizing a piece of the skin with their powerful
pincers, they twisted themselves round with it, as if determined to
tear it out. Their bites are so terribly sharp that the bravest must
run, and then strip to pick off those that still cling with their
hooked jaws, as with steel forceps. This kind abounds in damp
places, and is usually met with on the banks of streams. We have not
heard of their actually killing any animal except the Python, and
that only when gorged and quite lethargic, but they soon clear away
any dead animal matter; this appears to be their principal food, and
their use in the economy of nature is clearly in the scavenger line.
We started from the Sinjere on the 12th of June, our men carrying
with them bundles of hippopotamus meat for sale, and for future use.
We rested for breakfast opposite the Kakolole dyke, which confines
the channel, west of the Manyerere mountain. A rogue monkey, the
largest by far that we ever saw, and very fat and tame, walked off
leisurely from a garden as we approached.
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