The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-09-15
KING OF THE JUNGLES
AND DREADED AS SUCH.
Not the Lion Entitled to the Name But
the BUSY Little Ant

the Busy Little Ant
One of the most extraordinary sights
in tropical jungle is an army of ants.
Far and wide, throughout thousands
and thousands of miles Of UNEMPLOYED
wilderness in South America, nothing
is feared more by man or beast.
Before one may say that he has seen
real ant army he must have seen the
very ground crawl. The jet black soil
of the dusky virgin forest must be hid
den completely behind a blanket of
glistening, hustling, little black beads,
and the patter of the myriads of feet
must sound as the early evening yep
hyr as it drifts through the inpene-
trable of green which from time to
time immemorial has kept Gods sun
shine and the light out of the maze of
the tangled, bushroped jungles under
the equator.
1T was in such an army as this
which descended one morning on the
Dieu Dispose camp of the White Water
Mining Company, 400 miles UP the Sar-
amacca river, in Dutch Guiana, South
America" said a mining engineer. "The
surprise came one morning just 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 I have
seen in mining life and big game hunt
ing.
"The camp was very pretentious
affair-built with a roof of sheet iron
and on six-foot pillars to raise the
floor off the ground and preclude ma
larial fevers. In the entire country
there was not, and there probably new
er will be, such another camp, for it's
floor space measured so by 100 feet,
man could devise, short of an army
attack, had been omitted in the build
ing.
I'VE were awakened out of deep
slumber one morning by the wild bray
ing of Don Pedro, the mascot jackass.
Never before had Don misbehaved
himself and all six of us tumbled
out of our hammocks, rifles in hand,
expecting to find the animal attacked
by jaguar. Don was in the midst OF
an ant army, acting as if he were
crazy He had rolled on his back, and
was writhing in pain, fighting and
kicking and biting everywhere at once
and emitting cries Of pain. We ran in
to 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 lit
tie pests.
1.-THE army was making a bee line
for the camp, and it became a race
between us and in insects to see what
could be saved. The programme was to
store away what could be stored by the
only safe means possible, and then, to
Vacate and let the visitors have the
place till they got fired. Sugar, butter
rice, meats and everything else eatable
were put on the table, the four legs OF
which were immersed in water. Then
we departed to await developments.
"Outside the ground was literally
alive The entire clearing about the
camp crawled for 100 feet square, and
out of the jungle thicket the stream
of ants continued steadily as if black
river were flowing out Of it. There was
no danger or inconvenience in watch
ing the army at work. So long as one
did not step into the group there would
be no trouble, and we watched the
midgets from the side lines, one ant
leading the unaccountable ones, and
the rest following in a solid mass.
Cup 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. Into the place they
went, spreading everywhere, under the
roof, on the rafters, on the walls, till
it made one dizzy to see the black,
crawling 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 wall from hiding spot
under the roof. The centipede landed