The suburban citizen., 1902-11-29

sights in tropical jungle Is
an army of ants. Far and
wide, throughout thousands
upon thousands of miles OF unexplored
wilderness in South America, nothing
is feared more by man or beast.
Before one may say that he has seen
a real ant army, he must have seen
the very ground crawl. The jet black
soil of the dusky virgin forest must be
hidden completely beneath blanket
of glistening, hustling, little black
beads, and the patter of the myriads
of feet must sound like the rustic Of
the early evening zephyr as 1t drifts
through the impenetrable roof of green
which has from time immemorlal kept
Gods sunshine and the light out of
the maze of the tangled, bushroped
jungles under the equator.
at was such an army as this which
descended early one morning on the
Dieu Dispose camp Of the Witte Water
Mining Company, 400 miles up the
Saramacca River, in Dutch Guinea,
South America" said mining engi-
neer. THE surprise came early one
morning shortly before sunrise, and the
way it routed us and the way the army
cleaned out the camp and continued
on its march Of conquest was the most
wonderful thing have seen in twenty
years of mining and big game hunt
ing.
"The camp was a very pretentious
affair-built with roof of sheet iron,
and on siX-foot pillars TO raise the
floor from OFF the ground and preclude
malarial fevers. In the entire country
there was not and there probably never
will be such another camp, for its floor
space measured 50x100 feet. and moth
ing that the forethought Of man could
devise. short of an ant army attack,
had been omitted in the building.
1--WE were awakened out of deep
slumber one morning by the wild bray
ing of Don Pedro, the mascot jackass.
| Don had never before misbehayed him.
| self. and all six of us tumbled out of
our hammocks, rifles at hand, expect
ing to find the animal attacked by a
jaguar. Don was in the midst of an
ant army, acting as il he was crazy
He had rolled on his back and was
writhng in pain, fighting and kicking
and biting everywhere at once, and
emitting cries of agony. We ran into
the midst of the little fighters and
saved Don by the ears and tail, the
only two safe places to lay hold OF
him. Then he was brushed clean OF
the little pests.
"The army was making a beelnc
for the camp, and it became a race be-
| tween us and the insects to see what
could be saved The program was to
| store away what could be stored by
the only safe means possible, and then
| to vacate and let the little visitors have
the place till they got tired. Sugar
butter. rice. meats and everything else
was put on table, the four legs of
which We're immersed in basins OF
water. Then we departed to await
developments.
"Outside the ground was literally
alive. The entire clearing about the
camp. crawled for a hundred feet
square, and out OF the jungle thicket
the stream of ants continued steadily
as il a black river We're flooding out
of it. There was no danger or incon'
venience in watching the army at
work. SO long as one did not step into
the group there would be no trouble,
and We watched the mldgets from the
sidelnes, one ant leading the uncount-
able ones and the rest following in a
solid mass,
up one of the posts headed the
leader and up the post followed those
behind, disappearing in the cracks and
crevices between the weather boards.
Then every upright became alive with
the little pirates. In the place they
went, spreading everywhere under the
roof. on the rafters, on the walls, till 1t
made one dizzy to see the black, crawl
ing mass"
"'Wait till you see centipede fight,
said one of the native foremen, and
barely had he said so than blue
streak shot with the speed of light
ming down a wall from a hiding spot
under the roof. The centipede landed
in the centre of the floor, and it looked
as if he were going to dash clear of the
tormentors when he made the fatal
stop that doomed him. as it dooms
everything else that fails to run clear
of the attacking force before lighting
the ones fastened in the body.
around and around spun the poison
Gus inject thrashing the floor wildly in
an effort TO squash the attacking party.
Afterwards we found thousands Of
dead ants on the spot Of the fight, but
quick as some fell others took their
places, and the centipede was literally
covered with ants, each one fastening
teeth deeply into him. For all Of fif-
teen minutes the fight continued. Then
the struggles of the centipede became
weaker and weaker till gradually he
sank to quiet in sheer exhaustion, to
be eaten alive. Not vestige OF the
centipede remained by the time the
ants were finished with him, and this