Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1899-08-03
ANTS AS FIGHTERS.
THE TINY WARRIORS ARE FERocIoUs
IN BATTLE.

Their Bites Made "A Having Maniac
Il was one of six American miners
who were routed from their camp by
Venezuelan ant army" said mining
expert who lately arrived from Vene-
zuela we retreatcd before the in
vaders without making fight and for
two good reasons. In the first place
we would have got the worst of the
encounter. aud. secondly, we knew
that If we let them alone they would
do US good service.
shortly after dawn one Sunday our
native cook burst il upon us with the
news that we were about to be attack
ed by an army of ants. We had heard
enough about ant armies to know
what to do. We arose hastily, and ev-
cry ounce of provisions that was not
sealed in cans or in jars was hurriedly
piled on table, the four legs of which
were Immersed in as many basins Of
water. Every maneuver that is known
to the armies of civilized humans you
may safely expect from an ant army.
learned to swim. Our provisions thus
protected, we left the camp to itself
and went out to reconnoiter for the in
vaders and to watch their assault
from a distance. The army was max
ing fair time. An irregular patch of
black 10 feet wide and double as long
was swarming steadily toward our
Ak f,,
disturbed by our presence it was pos
sible to approach its lines closely
There must have been millions upon
millions of little soldiers marching hip
to hip. At the head marched the lead
er. On went the army. up the posts
of the camp and then within.
"Once within, the army spread itself
in all directions, forming hundreds of
little attacking parties. The camp was
an old palm thatched affair and so in
tested with scorpions. centipeds and
spiders that we had been on the point
of destroying it. Now, however, the
ants had come and would clean house
for us, and therefore they were vel
come. The ants swarmed up the joists
and the dry leafy walls, and wherever
there was a spider or a bug there was
brief tussle and dead foe But
there was bigger game in store for the
invaders.
"The star battle was with an inn
mense centiped. one of the blush
gray kind, about seven inches long and
as big around as your middle finger.
He darted out of hole like blue
streak, evidently trusting TO his speed
and superior strength to run through
the enemy's ranks. But he didn't go
three feet before he was stopped. Ants
literally covered him. He turned on
himself and swept them from his back,
but before he had gone another three
feet he was buried beneath another
swarm of his pIucky assailants. And
then began fight to the death. Again
and again he swept his tormentors
from his back while from all sides
hurried streams of ants to take the
place of fallen comrades. The wrig-
Cling of the big fellow became less yio-
lent as the fight progressed, and final
lY, after an effort, which | we'll knew
was a desperate last one, he remained
quiet while what little life was left in
him was bitten out of him. Later, when
the army had retreated and when we
had swept up the centipeds and scor-
pions and lizards and a tarantula
which the ant army had vanquished.
we put the hero of the star battle un-
der quartz magnifying glass The
bodies of dead ants still elung to their
foe. From his back, from his legs,
from wherever there was a chance for
hold, the bodies of ants dangled, hold
ing on, / suppose, by their teeth.
Perhaps you wonder what would
happen to man who would under
take to fight an army of ants. assum-
ing, of course, that the man relies ON
his natural means of defense-his
hands and feet. can best illustrate
that by the rare story of an unfOrtu-
nate who was brought to hospital In
Caracas shortly before my return
home. The man was cooiie who had
worked on a cocoa plantation in creek
not far from Caracas Following a
habit of some of his countrymen, the
coolie. owing to the heat, had left his
camp and stretched himself on the
ground to sleep outdoors. Exactly
what followed no cne can say with cer-
tainty. Presumably he was surrounded
and covered by an army of ants be-
fore he awakened. At dawn the shrieks
and cries of a man in agony aroused
the inmates of the camp. who ran out
to learn the cause
'The man was gesticulating wildly
and calling for help, whiled he squirm-
ed and writhed and slapped his face
and neck and chest and legs in mad
effort to slap himself all ever at once
He was standing in the midst of an
army of ants and was too distracted
with pain to run away. Then he did
exactly what panther or leopard does
when he is being overcome. The man
threw himself to the ground to roll his
tormentor to death. single active
white man could have saved the poor
wretch, but the stupefied. bareIegged
coolies dared not or thought not, of
rescue, while the victim himself was
too crazed with agony to seek other
than instant relief. From slight per-
sonal experience | know the poor fell
low was burning in fire which would
Jake hours to kill him.
FINALLY a bystander regained his
wits and rushed into the midst OF the
army and dragged the man after him
and threw him into the creek. The
rescue came too late. The victim be-
came unconscious. His yelvety, brown
skin was pink mass of raw bites.
When he came TO the hospital. he was
bound hand and foot. a maniac. whose
continuous notion was that he was be-
ing eaten by ants New York Sun.