The suburban citizen., 1902-11-29

the provisions rescued on the fortified
table everything was cleared out OF
the camp as clean as a whistle. A
great bunch of bananas that had hung
in corner had disappeared all but the
bare stumps But within the building
there was not a thing Of life left,
Not a fly, not a spider, not even a
rival ant was to be found in the place,
and the floor was eaten clean and as
clear as II it had been swept and
scrubbed.
But the army was not finished with
its destruction in our immediate neigh
borhood. A huge tree--larger than the
biggest oak have ever seen anywhere
was stripped of its foliage in less
than an hour. The tree was five feet
in diameter, and the way the little ones
tackled it showed both sense and
system. Up one side they went, crawl.
ing and pushing, and presently down
the other side of the trunk came down
the vanguard, while the army stood
backed to a standstill to give the lead.
ers a chance 10 mount the space roo
narrow to accommodate the entire
number at once. Ii was as If a human
army had suddenly come TO a halt at
bridge to give those ahead change
| to cross.
las each ant came down from above
he carried a small triangular piece Of
leaf, half as large as a thumb nail
Each laborer held the leaf on his back
with two tiny forefeet and ploddcd
along with incredible swftness into
the jungle. We never found what they
| did with the leaves.
THE stories that some Of the natives
tell Of the strength OF an ant army
would put the best oldfashioned in.
union -there-s- 10 blush,
A leopard OF a panther is hopelessly
lost when surrounded in his sleep by
an ant army. The death OF the animal
| is dreadful one. Ants get into his
hide and they bite deep till he leopard,
or whatever it happens to be, rolls
himself on the ground in the hope OF
escaping his pursuers. If the animal
could stand the torture long enough
to clear the army in few bounds he
would be saved, but no animal, save
the monkey or the ape, seems TO have
sense enough for that Instead, the
one overcome begins to fight. The
more he fights the more he is beset
by the little pests, and the more he is
beset the more he rolls and screams in
pain. Exhaustion comes after time.
The struggles become weaker and
weaker. until finally they cease and
the unfortunate brute lies still. unable
TO move, with no help except to be
eaten alive, by inches.
Nothing on the face Of the earth is
dreaded by the little ones. The largest
boa constructor is tackled with the
same furious persistence that the
smallest spider is overcome and de.
voured, and the poisonous snakes are
no more dreaded than the smallest
tarantula OF centipede.
In a village of bush negroes on
the Saramacca they showed Il half.
witted man who had been manned into
his condition by being caught in the
midst of an army of ants. The story is
that the man was suffering from an at
tack of jungle fever and had been left
in a hut, bound hand and foot, for he
was in delrium and smashing things,
There he was left by the half savages.
unversed in medicines and human feel.
ings, and when his friends returned at
night they found him in the midst OF
an ant army, lighting for his life. Some
| one rushed i'm and cut the thongs bind.
ing the unfortunate victim, and he
rose to his feet, and, amid shrieks Of
anguish, dove into the river from
where lie was rescued.
"The man never regalned his reason
He was originally a coal-blacl bush
| negro. the lineal descendant OF African
slaves, and in patches his skin still
showed ebony blackness. But he was
covered with red and pinl: scars where
he had been bitten by the ants. At
times the sears would break open, and
then the fever Of the ants came back 10
him. He would become violent until
it was necessary 10 tie him. and in his
delirlum he saw the army Of ants de.
vourlng him alive, as it had begun on
him years before. The mere sight OF
an ant was enough to unnerye the
idiot, and no white man who ever saw
the victim doubted the story as told by
the artless savages Of the Saramacca
tribe.
"Up north here people may credit
the klngship Of the jungle 10 the lion
or to the tiger, or any one of these
species, but the real jungle mantle
man who ought to know-fears most
Of all the army OF ants"