ATTACK OF THE WHITE ANTS.
Leon looked down to ascertain what had caused him such a sudden pain.
The sight that met his eyes made his blood run cold. The ground below
was alive and moving. A white stratum of ants covered it on all sides to
the distance of several yards. _They were ascending the tree!_ Nay,
more; a string of them had already crawled up; the trunk was crowded by
others coming after; and several were upon his feet, and legs, and
thighs! It was one of these that had stung him!
The fate of the aïs--which he had just witnessed--and the sight of the
hideous host, caused him again to scream out. At the same time he had
risen to his feet, and was pulling himself up among the upper branches.
He soon reached the highest; but he had not been a moment there, when he
reflected that it would be no security. The creatures were crawling
upwards as fast as they could come.
His next thought was to descend again, leap from the tree, and crushing
the vermin under his feet, make for the bark-cutters. He had made up his
mind to this course, and was already half-down, when _he remembered the
puma_! In his alarm at the approach of the ants he had quite forgotten
this enemy, and he now remembered that it was directly in the way of his
intended escape. He turned his eyes in that direction. It was not there!
The ant-bears were still upon the ground--the young one dead, and the
mother struggling in her last agonies; but no puma!
The boy began to hope that his cries had frightened him off. His hope
was short-lived; for on glancing around the glade, he now beheld the
fierce brute crouching among the grass, and evidently coming towards
him! What was to be done? Would the puma attack him in the tree? Surely
he would; but what better would he be on the ground? No better, but
worse. At all events he had not time for much reflection, for before two
seconds the fierce puma was close to the tree. Leon was helpless--he
gave himself up for lost. He could only cry for help, and he raised his
voice to its highest pitch.
The puma did not spring up the tree at once, as Leon had expected. On
the contrary, it crouched round and round with glaring eyes and wagging
tail, as if calculating the mode of attack. Its lips were red--stained
with the blood of the ant-eaters--and this added to the hideousness of
its appearance. But it needed not that, for it was hideous enough at any
time.
Leon kept his eyes upon it, every moment expecting it to spring up the
tree. All at once he saw it give a sudden start, and at the same instant
he heard a hissing noise, as if something passed rapidly through the
air. Ha! something sticking in the body of the puma! It is an arrow,--a
poisoned arrow! The puma utters a fierce growl--it turns upon
itself--the arrow is crushed between its teeth. Another "hist!"--another
arrow! Hark! a well-known voice--well-known voices--the voices of Don
Pablo and Guapo! See! they burst into the glade--Don Pablo with his axe,
and Guapo with his unerring gravatána!
The puma turns to flee. He has already reached the border of the wood;
he staggers--the poison is doing its work. Hurrah! he is down; but the
poison does not kill him, for the axe of Don Pablo is crashing through
his skull. Hurrah! the monster is dead, and Leon is triumphantly borne
off on the shoulders of the faithful Guapo!
Don Pablo dragged the puma away, in order that they might get his fine
skin. The ant-eaters, both of which were now dead, he left behind, as he
saw that the termites were crawling thickly around them, and had already
begun their work of devastation. Strange to say, as the party returned
that way, going to dinner, not a vestige remained either of the aïs or
the ant-eaters, except a few bones and some portions of coarse hair. The
rest of all these animals had been cleared off by the ants, and carried
into the cells of their hollow cones!
It was, no doubt, the noise of the bark-hunters that had started the
ant-eaters abroad, for these creatures usually prowl only in the night.
The same may have aroused the fierce puma from his lair, although he is
not strictly a nocturnal hunter.
A curious incident occurred as they approached the glade on their way
home. The male tamanoir was roused from his nest among the dry leaves,
and Guapo, instead of running upon him and killing the creature, warned
them all to keep a little back, and he would show them some fun. Guapo
now commenced shaking the leaves, so that they rattled as if rain was
falling upon them. At this the ant-eater jerked up its broad tail, and
appeared to shelter itself as with an umbrella! Guapo then went towards
it, and commenced driving it before him just as if it had been a sheep
or goat, and in this manner he took it all the way to the house. Of
course Guapo took care not to irritate it; for, when that is done, the
ant-eater will either turn out of his way or stop to defend itself.
The tamanoir is not so defenceless a creature as might at first sight be
imagined by considering his small toothless mouth and slow motions. His
mode of defence is that which has been described, and which is quite
sufficient against the tiger-cat, the ocelot, and all the smaller
species of feline animals. No doubt the old female would have proved a
match for the puma had she not been thrown off her guard by his seizing
upon her young. It is even asserted that the great ant-bear sometimes
hugs the jaguar to death; but this I believe to be a mistake, as the
latter is far too powerful and active to be thus conquered. Doubtless
the resemblance of the jaguar to some of the smaller spotted cats of
these countries, leads to a great many misconceptions concerning the
prowess of the _American tiger_.
Besides the tamanoir there are two, or perhaps three, other species of
_ant-bears_ in the forests of South America. These, however, are so
different in habits and appearance, that they might properly be classed
as a separate genus of animals. They are _tree-climbers_, which the
tamanoir is not, spite of his great claws. They pursue the ants that
build their nests upon the high branches, as well as the wasps and bees;
and to befit them for this life, they are furnished with _naked
prehensile tails_, like the opossums and monkeys. These are
characteristics entirely distinct from those of the _Myrmecophaga
jubata_, or _great_ ant-eater.
One of these species is the _tamandua_, called by the Spano-Americans
_Osso hormiguero_ (ant-bear). The tamandua is much less than the
tamanoir, being only three and a half feet in length, while the latter
is over seven. The former is of a stouter build, with neither so long a
snout in proportion, nor such claws. The claws, moreover, are made for
tree-climbing, and are not so much in the way when the animal walks on
the ground. It is, therefore, a more active creature, and stands better
upon its limbs. Its fur is short and silky, but the tail is nearly
naked, and, as already stated, highly prehensile, although it does not
sleep hanging by the tail as some other animals do.
The tamandua is usually of a dull straw-colour, although it varies in
this respect, so that several species have been supposed to exist. It
spends most of its time upon the trees; and in addition to its ant-diet,
it feeds upon wild honey, and bees too, whenever it can catch them. The
female, like the tamanoir, produces only one young at a birth, and like
the other species, carries it upon her back until it is able to provide
for itself. The tamandua has sometimes been called _tridactyla_, or the
"three-toed ant-eater," because it has only three claws upon each of
its fore-feet, whereas the tamanoir is provided with four.
Another species of "ant-bear," differing from both in size and in many
of its habits, is the "little ant-eater." This one has only two claws on
each fore-foot, hence its specific name. It is a very small
creature--not larger than the common grey squirrel--with a prehensile
tail like the tamandua. The tail, however, is not entirely naked--only
on the under side near the point. It is not so good a walker as the
three-toed kind, though more active on its feet than the tamanoir.
Standing upon its hind-feet, and supporting itself also by the
tail--which it has already thrown around some branch--the little
ant-eater uses its fore-feet as hands to carry food to its mouth. It
lives among the trees, and feeds upon wasps, bees, and especially the
larvæ of both; but it does not use the tongue to any great extent. It
is, on this account, an essentially different sort of animal.
The little ant-eater is usually of a bright yellow colour, brownish on
the back; but there are many varieties in this respect, and some are of
a snowy whiteness. Its fur is soft and silky, sometimes slightly curled
or matted at the points, and the tail fur is annulated, or ringed, with
the prevailing colours of the body.
So much for the ant-bears of America.