The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1858-06-17
T81 1A01R10
Commercial Advertiser.



The interest which has bem awakened in the puh
10 mind BY some Of the new books. is perhaps withou
spszallel- Particularly Is this observed in regard Z
Dr.. Livingstone new book on Africa, which is proba
bly, The most popular work issued from the press 70
some years past We quote a few extracts from i
and would add that the book may be expected on tn
arrival Of the next mail packet:
THE BACK SoLDnR-Axn-Walking down to thu
torses, after telling these poor people, the Batoka, fo
The drst time In their lives. that the son of God baf
= loved them - to come down from Heaven to saw.
them, oocsrvsd many regiments OF black soldier
ants returning from their maraudine expeditions
These I have oaen noticed before in different parts o.
the country; and as We had, even at Kolobeng. an
opportunity of observing their habits, I may give a
short account OF them here They are black, with a
slight tinge Of grey. about half an inch in length,
and OF the line Of march appear three or four
shreesf; when disturbed, they utter a distinct Kissing
or chipping sooua. They follow a few leaders who
: scsnt let on the path by the leaders; Er, happen
ING once to throw the water from my basin behind a
bush where | WAS dressing, il lighted on the path by
which . regiment had passed before I began nv
toilet. and when they returned they were at q total
lo0 % hnd the way home, though they continued
seerching for il nearly half an hour. 1t was found
en9y y one making . long circuit round the wetted
- ne scent may have indicated also the pro-
lststy Of their going in one direction only. If q
handful Of earth is thrown on the path at the middle
q the regiment, either on its way home or abroad.
those behind it are completely at q loss as to their
hrther progress whatever il may be that guides
them, they seem only to known that they are not to
return, for they come up to the handful of earth. but
will not cross IT, though not q quarter Of an inch
high They wheel around and regain their path
aGpin, but never think Of r~etreating to the nest, or
TO the place where they have been stealing. After a
quarter Of an hours confusion and Kissing. one NAV
make . circuit of . foot around the earth, and soon
all follow IN that roundabout way. When on their
way to attack the abode Of the white-ants, the latter
may be observed rushing about in a state Of pertur-
baton The black leaders, distinguished from the
rest BY their greater eize, especially in the region of
the sting, then seize the white-ants one by one, and
mdict q sting, which seems to inject n portion of fluid
similar in affect to chloroform, as it renders them in
ssusiblc, but not dead, and only able to move one or
two mont IeZAL As the leaders toss them on one side,
the rank and 6e seize them and carry them od.
One morning I say q party going forth ON what
had been supposed to be q slave-hunting expedition.
hey came 70 . stick, which, being enclosed in .
insect; bat was surprised to see the black soldiers
passing without touching it. l lifted up the stick
and broke a portion OF the gallery, and laid it across
the path in the middle Of the black regiment. The
white-ants. when uncovered, scampered about with
great CELEBRITY, hiding themselves under the leaves,
but attracted little attention from the black marau-
dsrs till one Of the leaders caught them. and apply
ing his sting. laid them in an instant on one side in
. state of coma; the others then promptly seized
them and rushed cd. On first observing these ma
rauding insects At Kolobeng, I had the idea, imbibed
from . work OF no less authority than Brougham's
PAley, that they seized the white-ants in order to
make them slaves; but having rescued a number of
csptivee, l placed them aside, and found that they
never recovered from the state of insensibility into
which they had been thrown by the leaders. I sup
posed then that the insensibility had been caused by
the soldiers holding the necks of the white ants too
tightly with their mandibies, As that IS the way they
ssiss them; but even the pups which l took from the
soldier-snts. though placed in a favorable tempera-
ture. never become developed. In addition to this,
If any one examines the ori6ce BY which the black
ant enters his barracks. he will always find q little
heap OF hard heads and legs Of white-ants. showing
that these black rufians are q grade lower than
slavestealers, being actually cannibals- Elsewhere 1
have sen a body o. them removing their eggs from
. place in which they we're likely to be flooded by the
SDin; I calculated their numbers to be 1,260; they
mried their eggs . certain distance, then laid them
down, when others took them and carried them
Arher en- Every ant in the colony seemed to be
in this laborious occupation, yet there was
NOT : vhits-snt among them. One cold morning I
ohssrved 3 baud Of another species of black-ant
returning each With . captive; there could be no
doubt Of their cannibal propensities, for the :" brutal
had already deprived the white-ants Of
tbe;r legs. The duid in the sfings Of this species is
Of an intensely acid taste
D1s1Asss II ABH1cA--Therei 10 no consumption or
aud insanity and hydrocephalus are rare.
Cancers and cholera are quite unknown Small pox
and measies passed through the country about 10
vonrs ago and committed great rava9es. A I
r<Hin loathsome d sease, which decimates the North
IuDorican Indians and thrcatenes extirpation TO the
Soafh Sea Islanders, dies ont ia the interior Of Africa
without the MD Of medicine. 1t seems incap-
abie Of permanence in any form in persona Of pure
African blood. srywbere IN the center of the country.
In pcrscns Of mixed bioOi il il ofherwise; ard the
Of the secondary symptoms seemed to be,
in all the cases that came under my care, in exact
TO the greater or less amount OF European
blood in the patient " Equally unknown is
none in the bladder and gravel
Scarcely i the breath out OF the body when the
patient Is hurried away to be buried.
On two occasions while / was there this hasty
burial Was followed by the return home Of the men
Who had been hurled alive. to their a~ffrighted rela-
ives.
The fsliosing statement makes a sad void in our
.oesical knowledgc. If there was anything that we
Lid have faith in it was the
Majestic ROAR or THE Llox.-The silly ostrich
makes a noise a. loud las the roar of the lion) yet he
,evcr was feared by man. To talk Of the majestic
oar Of the lion 10 mere majestic tvaddle- In my men,
soaing this fscs some years ago the assertion was
50 l have been careful ever since to enquire
be opinions Of the Europeans who have heard both.
they could detect any difference between the roar
Z . lion and that Of nm ostrich; the invariable answer
gss that they could not rhen the animal was at any
5stnnce- The natives assert that they can detect n
between the commencement Of the noise of
Sch
EvTpEscEs on THE HEBRAIc ORIGIN OF THE Ne
non-Au the Bechuana and Caffre tribes south
{ Zamhesi practice circumcision, but the rites OBJ
urved sre csEefully concealed. The initiated alone
= Approach. bat [ was n spectator of the second
nj d ths cefemony, called "Sechu." Just At the
An a day. . row Of boys nearly fourteen years Of
= afnnd naked IN the kotta, each having q pair Of
~ q . shield In his hands Facing them stood
- IN Of the town in q similar state OF nudity, all
With Iong thin wands, of . tough, strong supple
mnnd mnrefica and engaged in a dance named
- q which questions werc put TO the boys as,
VIl1 ID herd the cattle wells" sWill you guard
--xI<R-Dne4 - -hslo r. I,S>nr ~,v ~ .R-r.