The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1899-07-14
ANTS AS FIGHTERS.
THE TINY WARRIORS ARE FEROCIoUs
IN BATTLE.

So Vicious Are They That Even the
| largest Animals Dare Not Meet
Them In Combat Man Whom
Their Bites Made u Rnving Maninc.
81 was one Of six American miners
who were routed from their camp by
Venezuelan ant army" said q mining
expert who lately arrived from Vene-
zuela I'VE retreated 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, and, secondly, we knew
| that If we let them alone they would
do us a good service.
shortly after dawn one Sunday our
native cook burst in 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 a 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,
but the little black warriors have never
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 q 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
camp. AS the army was in no way
disturbed by our presence it was pos
sible to approach it's 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 well
| come. The ants swarmed up the joists
and the dry leafy walls, and wherever
there was spider or a bug there was
a brief tussle and a dead foe. But
there was bigger game in store for the
! invaders.
"The star battle was with an i'm
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 a 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 plucky assailants. And
then began q 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 vio-
lent as the fight progressed, and final
ly, after an effort, which l we'll knew
was 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 a quartz magnifying glass. The
bodies Of dead ants still clung to their
foe. From his back, from his legs
from wherever there was chance fol
a hold, the bodies of ants dangled, hold
ing on, suppose, by their teeth.
perhaps you wonder what would
happen to a man who would under
take to fight an army Of ants, assum
ing, of course. that the man relies or
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 II
Caracas shortly before my return
home. The man was coolie who haf
worked on cocoa plantation In creel
not far from Caracas. Following {
habit Of some Of his countrymen, th'
coolie, owing to the heat, had left hi
camp and stretched himself on th,
ground to sleep outdoors. Exactl!
what followed no one can say with Ger
tainty. Presumably he was surroundet
, and covered by an army of ants be
fore he awakened. At dawn the shrek
! and cries of man in agony arouse'
, the inmates Of the camp, who ran ou
: to learn the cause.
, "The man was gesticulating Wild
| for, 1,ol,> 1n1 hnc irY1,
ed and writhed and slapped his fac
and neck and chest and legs in ma
|, effort to slap himself all over at once
, He was standing in the midst of a.
! army Of ants and was too distracte
q with pain to run away. Then he di
J. exactly what panther or leopard doe
when he is being overcome. The ma
. threw himself to the ground to roll hi