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SICKNESS.-RETURN TO THE GABOON.

And now came the time when I was to pay for my long tour. It is quite usual for natives of the interior coming to the seashore to be seized with fever. It is a great change, and I expected to be affected by it in some measure. Nor were my expectations ungrounded. Day after day my fever attacks grew worse, until, having no proper medicines, and living necessarily here without many of the comforts a sick man needs, I was quite prostrated. Then, luckily, one day came by a vessel. Some of my men boarded her with a note to the captain. He was going to the Gaboon, and I gladly accompanied him. There, under the kind care of my missionary friends, I managed, in a short time, to recover my health sufficiently to think of another trip, in which I hoped to make a thorough geographical exploration of the farther interior.

The Ants of Equatorial Africa.-The Bashikouay.-The red Ant.-The Nchellelay. The little Ant.-The red Leaf-ant.—The nest-building Ant.

IN the forests of this part of Africa are found vast numbers of ants, some of whose tribes are so terrible to man, and even to the beasts of the wood, from their venomous bites, their fierce temper and voracity, that their path is freely abandoned to them, and they may well be called lords of the forest.

I know of ten different species of ants found in these regions, all differing widely in their choice of food, the quality of their venom, the manner of their attack, or the time of their operation. The most remarkable and most dreaded of all is the bashikouay.

THE BASHIKOUAY ANT, MAGNIFIED TO TWICE ITS NATURAL SIZE.

This ant, also called nchounou by the Mpongwe, is very abund ant in the whole region I have traveled over in Africa, and is the most voracious creature I ever met. It is the dread of all living animals from the leopard to the smallest insect.

I do not think that they build a nest or home of any kind. At any rate they carry nothing away, but eat all their prey on the spot. It is their habit to march through the forests in a long regular line-a line about two inches broad and often several miles in length. All along this line are larger ants, who act as officers, stand outside the ranks, and keep this singular army in

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FEROCITY OF THE BASHIKOUAY.

order. If they come to a place where there are no trees to shelter them from the sun, whose heat they can not bear, they immediately build underground tunnels, through which the whole army passes in columns to the forest beyond. These tunnels are four or five feet underground, and are used only in the heat of the day or during a storm.

When they get hungry the long file spreads itself through the forest in a front line, and attacks and devours all it comes to with a fury which is quite irresistible. The elephant and gorilla fly before this attack. The black men run for their lives. Every animal that lives in their line of march is chased. They seem to understand and act upon the tactics of Napoleon, and concentrate, with great speed, their heaviest forces upon the point of attack. In an incredibly short space of time the mouse, or dog, or leopard, or deer is overwhelmed, killed, eaten, and the bare skeleton only remains.

They seem to travel night and day. Many a time have I been awakened out of a sleep, and obliged to rush from the hut and into the water to save my life, and after all suffered intolerable agony from the bites of the advance-guard, who had got into my clothes. When they enter a house they clear it of all living things. Roaches are devoured in an instant. Rats and mice spring round the room in vain. An overwhelming force of ants kills a strong rat in less than a minute, in spite of the most frantic struggles, and in less than another minute its bones are stripped. Every living thing in the house is devoured. They will not touch vegetable matter. Thus they are in reality very useful (as well as dangerous) to the negroes, who have their huts cleaned of all the abounding vermin, such as immense roaches and centipedes, at least several times a year.

When on their march the insect world flies before them, and I have often had the approach of a bashikouay army heralded to me by this means. Wherever they go they make a clean sweep, even ascending to the tops of the highest trees in pursuit of their prey. Their manner of attack is an impetuous leap. Instantly the strong pincers are fastened, and they only let go when the piece gives way. At such times this little animal seems animated by a kind of fury which causes it to disregard entirely its own safety, and to seek only the conquest of its prey. The bite is very painful.

THE GRAY BASHIKOUAY.

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The negroes relate that criminals were in former times exposed in the path of the bashikouay ants, as the most cruel manner of putting to death.

Two very remarkable practices of theirs remain to be related. When, on their line of march, they must cross a stream, they throw themselves across and form a tunnel-a living tunnelconnecting two trees or high bushes on opposite sides of the little stream. This is done with great speed, and is effected by a great number of ants, each of which clings with its fore claws to its next neighbor's body or hind claws. Thus they form a high, safe tubular bridge, through which the whole vast regiment marches in regular order. If disturbed, or if the arch is broken by the violence of some animal, they instantly attack the offender with the greatest animosity.

The bashikouay have the sense of smell finely developed, as indeed have all the ants I know of, and they are guided very much by it. They are larger than any ant we have in America, being at least half an inch long, and are armed with very powerful fore legs and sharp jaws, with which they bite. They are red or dark-brown in color. Their numbers are so great that one does not like to enter into calculations; but I have seen one continual line passing at good speed a particular place for twelve hours. The reader may imagine for himself how many millions on millions there may have been contained here.

There is another species of bashikouay which is found in the mountains to the south of the equator. It is of great size. The body is grayish-white in color; the head of a reddish-black. Its fangs are very powerful, and it is able to make a clean bite out of a piece of flesh. It is thus a very formidable animal; but fortunately its motions are not so quick as those of its fierce brother; it does not march in such vast armies, nor does it precipitate itself upon its prey with such irresistible fury. In its motions it is almost sluggish. They do not invade villages, nor climb trees in pursuit of prey; and I do not think them nearly so voracious as their fellows before-mentioned. If they were, they could doubtless clear the country of every living thing, for they are much more powerful. They are, in fact, to ants what whales are to fishes.

Next to the bashikouay come the nchellelay, or white ants. These troublesome animals do not bite or attack living things at

all. They live on vegetable substances, and are particularly fond of cotton cloth, paper, and old wood. They have a great aversion to daylight, and use all means possible to avoid it. To reach an object which is situated in the light they build a clay tunnel, through which they pass in safety. The clay seems to be moistened with some juices of their own, and becomes quite firm on exposure to the air. Their nests, which are curiously shaped, with overhanging flat roofs (exactly like a toad-stool), are constructed in the same manner, and are built up from within, the underground excavations doubtless furnishing clay for this purpose.

It is almost impossible to keep any thing safe from these destroyers. They work in silence, unseen, and with wonderful rapidity. One night's negligence suffices to spoil a box of clothing or books. They seem to be attracted by smell rather than sight to their prey. They are always near; and they cut through any -the hardest-wood, in order to reach the object of their desires. I have noticed that they always cut through the middle of a piece of cloth first, as though they were trying to do as much mischief as possible. Such is their perseverance and destructiveness, that I think one of the greatest boons to this part of Africa would be to rid it of this pest.

The earth of which they build their houses becomes so hard, after it has been mixed with their saliva, that it stands the hardest and longest rain-storms without melting or breaking away, and they last many rainy seasons. They leave no opening in their house for air or light, both which they seem to have a particular aversion for. And thus, too, they are protected from other ants who are their enemies, and against whom, being unarmed, they would find it difficult to defend themselves.

Among these enemies the chief is the bashikouay ant, which pursues the white ant with great fury. I have sometimes, when I noticed some of these white-ant-hills in the track of an army of bashikouay, knocked away the top. No sooner was this done than the bashikouay rushed to their work, and in a short time not a white ant was left.

When the house is only slightly injured, the working-ants are called, and immediately set to work to mend the hole, using clay brought from the interior.

These ants, though called white, are really of a straw color. They emit a strong smell, especially if crushed.