Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1888-09-13

uf1ulng force OF Well-drllleO men would
be needed for this purpose. They
might be whites or blacks and whites;
they might be Sikhs or Panthans from
India.
1.-The barriers in the way of Gov
eminent action are only two, and
neither is insurmountable. The one is
Portugal, which owns the approaches
to the country; the other is Germany,
which has inland interests of her own.
Whether England could proceed in the
face of these two powers would simply
depend on how it was done. AS a mere
political move such an occupation of
the interior might at once excite alarm
and jealousy. But wearing the aspect
of serious mission for the good of
Africa, instigated not by the Foreign
Office but by the people of England, it
is impossible to believe that the step
could either be misunderstood or OPP
posed. 1t is time the nations looked
upon Africa as something more than
chessboard.
One portion of Prof. Drummond's
book reads like a fairy tale. 1t is the
wonderful romance of the white ant,
which does for Africa what Darwin a
few years ago told us the worm does
for u.s. 1t is small insect, with
bloated, yellowish-white body, and a
somewhat large thorax, oblong-shaped
and colored disagreeable Oily brown.
The terlnite lives almost exclusively
upon wood, and the moment tree is
cut or a log sawn for any economical
purpose this insect is upon its track.
One may never see the insect, possibly,
in the flesh, for it lives underground,
but its ravages confront one at every
turn.
1.-The white ant is blind; it has many
enemies, and can never procure food
until it comes above ground. How
does it solve the difficultyp 1t takes
the ground out along with it. | have
seen white ants working on the top of
a high tree and yet they were under
ground. They took up some of the
ground with them to the tree; just as
the Esquimaux heap up snow, build
ing it into the tunnel-huts in which
they live, SO the white ants collect
earth, only in this case not from the
surface, but from some depth under
ground and. plaster it into tunnel
ways. Occasionally these run along
the ground, but more often mount in
endless qualifications to tho tops OF
trees, mcandering along every branch
and twig and here and there debouch-
ing into large covered chambers which
occupy half the girth of the trunk.
Millions of trees in some districts are
thus Enthusiastically plastered over witt
j tubes, galleries and chambers of earth
and many pounds weight of subsoi
must be brought up for the mining o
Il single tree.
"Peering over the growing wall
one soon discovers one, two, or more
termites of somewhat larger build,
but considerably longer, and with 1
very different arrangement. OF th'
parts Of the head, and especially o
the mandibles. These important-look
ing individuals saunter about the ram
part in the most leisurely way, but ye
with certain air of business, as i
perhaps the one was the master o
works and the other the architect
They are posted there as sentries, an,
there they stand or promenade abou
at the mouth of every tunnel, like Sis
ter Ann, to see if anybody is coming
Sometimes somebody does come in tn
shape of another ant-the real ant thi
time, not the defenseless neuropteron
but some valiant and belted knigh
from the warlike formicida. Singl
or in troops, this rapacious little in
sect, fearless in its chitonous coat c
mail, charges down the tree trunk, it
antenn;c waving defiance TO the enemy
and its cruel mandibles thirsting TO
termite blood.
1.-The worker white ant is poor dc
fenseless creature, and, blind and III
armed, would fall an immediate pre-
to these well-drilled banditti, who fol
age about in every tropical forest i
unnumbered legion. But at the critic;
moment, like Goliath from the Phil:
tines, the soldier termite advances t
the fight, With a few sweeps of il
scythe-like jaws it clears the GROUND
and while the attacking party is carry
ing off its dead, the builders, uncor
scious of the fray, quietly continu
their work. To every hundred worker
in white ant colony, which number
many thousands of individuals, thel
are perhaps two of these fighting mel
The division of labor here is very wol
derful, and the fact that besides thes
two specialized forms there are
every nest two other kinds of the san
insect, the kings and queens, show
the remarkable height to which civil
cation in these communities has a
tanned.
These mounds are built into mesl
work of tunnels, galleries and chan
: bers where the social interests of II
4 community are attended to. The mo
r spacious of these chambers, usual
far underground, is very proper
y allocated to the head of the society, Il
g queen. The queen-termite is vel
Q rare insect, and as there are seldo
g more than one. or at most two, to
Q colony, and as the royal apartment
= are hidden far in the earth few perso
= have ever seen queen, and indie,
IS most, If they did happen to come aero
e it, from its very singular appearan
e would refuse to believe that it had al
Ie connection with white ants. Her SO
II duty in life is to lay eggs, and it mu
g be confessed she discharges her fur
'e ton with complete success. for in a 81