ANTS OF AFRICA.
Probably no insect is of more interest in Africa than the termite, or
white ant. It is found in vast numbers and may well be dreaded. The
amount of damage an army of termites can do is quite appalling; for, in
their line of travel, they destroy everything in their pathway.
Du Chaillu devoted the greater part of his leisure hours to studying the
habits of the many species of these white ants, the nests of which are
very conspicuous on the prairies. He describes them as having wonderful
diversity, not only in the form of their bodies and heads, but in their
architectural tastes. One species builds a mushroom-shaped structure.
Their singular hives are shaped like gigantic mushrooms scattered by
tens of thousands over the prairies.
Du Chaillu believed these white ants of the prairies to be of a very
different species from those which live in subterranean nests, and make
their appearance through the floor of one's hut, removing all substances
made of cotton or wood that they find in their pathways. They seemingly
have a very keen sense of smell. They are very fond of eating wood, and
are often found in dead trees.
One may go to bed with no fear from these little creatures, since no
sign of them has been seen, and awake in the morning to find little
covered passages overspreading the floor, chests of clothing, and the
various stores, and to discover with dismay that the contents of the
chests and of the store closets have been entirely destroyed by the
thousands of busy ants, that, like an invading host, are engaged in
working destruction with their sharp jaw-blades. Wood and cotton are the
only materials they destroy; wool and silk they invariably spare.
Another species of ant which this author describes lives in the forest
and is a very near neighbor of the other. He called it the tree ant from
its habit of building hives or nests in trees.
Many of the nests of the termites are conical or turret-shaped, and are
often twelve, sometimes twenty feet high; they are built in groups like
villages. While there is a variety of termites most destructive in their
line of march across a country, yet, in some ways, they are very useful;
for they destroy every kind of decaying matter, whether animal or
vegetable. They will, when pressed for food, eat even grass. Some
writers have described the snapping of the mandibles of such a vast
multitude of termites as resembling the sound of a gentle breeze among
trees.
These termites have been known to attack the woodwork of houses; they
can soon destroy even the stoutest timbers, gnawing them till they
become mere shells. Some extraordinary stories have been told of their
attacking and devouring large animals. Very probably, however, they do
this only when the animal is very feeble from illness or old age.
Wherever food is to be found, they come in great hosts, and it is very
hard to exterminate them; for, as fast as one multitude is disposed of,
other multitudes press on from the rear ranks. They gather into their
nests great stores of corn. The natives of Africa are very fond of it
and often help themselves from these stores.
The natives often use these insects as food, and consider them very
delicate and delicious eating when roasted. Sometimes they are pounded
by the natives into a kind of jam, which the boys and girls of Africa
like as well as American children do raspberry or currant jam.
It is no uncommon thing for hunters out searching for game, or even wild
animals looking for prey, to mount the hills made by the termites to get
a view of the surrounding country; for, so hard do the plastered tops of
the unique dwellings of these most curious of masons become, when dry,
that they easily sustain the weight of a human being, and even of a
beast of the plain.
While the devastation which an army of termites leaves behind in its
march is appalling, yet an army of locusts is still more destructive;
for it often leaves the country in its line of march as bare as if no
vegetation had ever grown there. Africa suffers in no small degree from
the inroads of this enemy, small in size, but great in numbers.
Livingstone, in his travels in South Africa, speaks of the hills erected
by the termites. These gigantic mounds, as he terms them, are utilized
by the natives, who choose their sides as choice spots for rearing early
maize, tobacco, or anything which requires a rich soil.
In the parts through which he passed these mounds were generally covered
by masses of wild date trees. The fruit was small, for no tree was
allowed to stand long. Food was abundant and the natives did not care to
spend their time preserving wild fruit trees. So, when a date palm grew
too tall for its top to be reached, as soon as the fruit was ripe it was
cut down, in order that there should be no occasion to climb it; for it
was considered too much trouble to do so.
Speaking of the swarming from a nest of these ants, he describes them as
rushing out of a hole in a perfect stream, and, after flying one or two
hundred yards, descending to the ground. If they lighted upon a soil
suitable for founding a colony, they immediately bent up their tails,
unhooked their wings, and, leaving them on the surface of the ground,
quickly began their mining operations.
These wings seem formed only to help the insect in its short flight to a
new abode and are then cast aside.
Occasionally this swarming occurs in a house, and, to prevent every
corner from being filled with the insects, a fire is built at the
orifice of the nest. But they do not hesitate to pass through the fire.
While swarming they appear like snowflakes floating about in the air,
and it is not uncommon to find dogs, cats, hawks, and almost every kind
of bird busily devouring them.
The natives take advantage of the swarming season and collect the ants
for food. They are then about half an inch long, about as large round as
a goose quill, and very plump. When roasted, they are good eating and
resemble grains of boiled rice. The general mode of catching them is to
dig into the hill, and as the builders come forth to repair the damage,
to sweep them quickly into some cooking utensil.
A singular animal of South Africa is the earth hog. Its food consists
wholly of the white ants, whose dome-like structures are found in great
numbers in the vicinity of the Orange River, and in other thinly settled
localities.
This animal burrows a short distance below the surface of the ground.
During the daytime it is seldom seen; at dusk, however, it ventures
forth, intent on creeping up to the ant-hills which shelter its prey. By
scratching a hole on the side of one with its fore-feet the little
community is disturbed; and as the ants in their confusion run about in
various directions, they are easily drawn into the earth hog's mouth by
its long slender tongue.
Though apparently defenseless,--for it has no tusks nor efficient
teeth,--no animal is safer in its concealment, for it is very rarely
seen. When pursued, it burrows a retreat for itself with astonishing
speed.