The Portland daily press., 1899-06-24

bat.
81 was one Of six American miners
who were routed from their. camp by a
Venezuelan ant army" said mining
expert who lately arrived In New York
from Venezuela. 1--WE retreated before
the invaders without making fight,
and for two good reasons. In the first
place we would have gotten the worst of
the encounter, and, secondly, we knew
that II we let them alone they would do
us good service.
shortly after dawn one Sunday, while
we were still smoothing away In our
hammock, our native cook burst in upon
us with the news that we were about to
be attacked by an army of ants. We had
heard enough about ant armies to know
what to do. We arose hastily, and every
ounce of provisions that was not aled In
cans or in jars was hurridedly piled on
table, the four legs Of which were I'M
mersed in as many basins OF water
Every anoeuvre that Is known to the
armies OF civilized humans you may safe
ly expect from an ant army, but the little
black warriors have never learned to
swim. Our provisions thus protected. we
laft the camp to itself and went out to
reconnoitre far the invaders and to watch
their assault from a distance. The army
was making fair time. An irregular
patch of black ten feet wide and double
MS long was swarming steadily toward
our camp. AS the army was in no way
disturbed by our presence 1t was possible
to approach its lines closely. There must
have been millions upon millions OF little
soldiers marching hip to hip. At the
head marched the leader. On went the
army, up the posts that supported the
camp and then within. The patter Of
their countless little feet was audible
like the bustling of grass in light
breeze
"Once within, the army spread itself in
all directions, forming hundreds of little
attacking parties. The camp was an old
palin-thatched affair, and SO infested with
scorpions, centipedes and spiders that we
had been on the point of destroying 1T.
NOWg HuWbFtT, bH6 anus uuu cOfnb anu
would clean house for us, and therefore
they were welcome. The ants swarmed
up the joists and the dry leafy walls. ana
wherever there was q spider or bug
thers was a brief tpssle and dead fos.
But there was bigger game In store for
the invaders.
"The star battle was with an immense
oentipede, one Of the bluish-grsy kind,
about seven inches long. and as big
around as your middle finger. de darted
out of hole like blue streak, evidently
trusting to,his speed and superior strength
to run through The enemys ranks. but
he Didn't go three feet hefore he was
stopped. Ants literally covered him. He
turned on himself and swept them from
his back, bnt before he had gone another
three feet he was buried beneath another
swRrm1of his plucky assailants. And
then began fight to the death. A gain
and again he swept his tormenetors from
his back, while from all sides hurried
streams of ants to take the place of
fallen comrades. The wliggliug of the
big fellow became less violent as tine tight
progressed. and finally. after an effort
which l well knsw 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 reiterated
and when we had swept up the centipedes
and scorpions and lizards and tarantula
put the hero of the fighteunder quartz
magnifying glass. The bodies of dead
ants still 1lung to their foe. From his
back. from his legs, from wherever there
WAS "A chance for hold the bodies OF
ants dangled, holding on, l suppose, by
their teeth.
Perhaps you wonder what would hap
pen to man who would undertake to
fight an army of ants. assuming of course
that the man relies ON his natural means
OF defence-his hands and feet. l can
best illustrate that by the rare story of
AN unfortunate who Was brought to
hospital in Caracas shortly before my re-
turn home. The man was a coulie who
had worked on cocoa plantation In a
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 one can say with certainty. Pre-
sumably he was surrounded and covered
by an army of ants before he awakened.
AT dawn the shrieks and cries OF man
in agony aroused the inmates of the camp
who ran out to learn the cause.
1.-The man was gesticulating wildly and
calling for help, while he squirmed and
writhed and slapped his lface and neck
and chest and legs in d mad effort to slap
himself all over at once. he was stand.
Ing In the midst of an army of ants and
was too attracted with pain to RUIZ away.
Then he diu exactly what a panther or a
leopard does when he is being overcome.
The man threw himself co the ground to
roll his tormentor to death. A single
active white man could have saved the
poor wretch, hut the stupefied hare legged
coolies, dared not, or thought not of res
QUE, while the victim himself was too
orazsd with agony 60 seek other than In
slant relief. From a slight personal ex-
perience, l know the poor fellow was
burning In fire which would take hours
to kill him.
''Finally hystander rsgained his kwits
and rushed Into the midst OF the army
aud dragged the man after him and
threw him Into the creek. The rescue
came too late. The victim became nm
conscious. His veivety brown skin was a
pink mass Of raw bites. When he came
TO the hospital he was bound hand and
foot, q maniac, whose continuous notion
wa that he was being eaten by ants.