I was glad to go to bed early, for I felt very tired. I had travelled during the day very nearly thirty miles.
But I had scarcely got sound asleep when I was fairly turned out of the house by a furious attack of the Bashikonay ants. They were already upon me when I jumped up, and I was bitten by them terribly. I ran out into the street, and called for help and torches. The natives came out, the lights were struck, and presently I was relieved. But now we found that the whole village was attacked. A great army of ants was pouring in on us, attracted doubtless by the meat in the houses, which they had smelt afar off. My unfortunate antelope had probably brought them to my door. All hands had to turn out to defend themselves. We built little cordons of fires, which kept them away from places they had not entered, and in this way protected our persons from their attacks. We scattered hot ashes and boiling water right and left; and towards morning, having eaten everything they could get at, they left us in peace. As was to be expected, my antelope was literally eaten up--not a morsel left.
The vast number, the sudden appearance, and the ferocity of these frightful creatures never ceased to astonish me. On this occasion they had come actually in millions. The antelope on which they fed was a vast mass of living ants, which we could not approach; and it was only when many fires were lighted that they were forced from their onward and victorious course, which they generally pursue. Then, however, they retreated in parties with the greatest regularity, vast numbers remaining to complete the work of destruction. Little would I give for the life of a man who should be tied up to a tree when these ants pass that way and attack him; in two or three hours nothing would be left of him but the bare bones.
[Illustration: MANGROVE SWAMP. TUMBLING AND FALLING.]
RETURNING TO THE COAST--CAVERNS AND WATERFALLS IN THE HIGHLANDS--CROSSING A RIVER ON MANGROVE ROOTS--STIRRING UP A BIG SNAKE--A MUTUAL SCARE.
I left the good villagers of Yoongoolapay, and pursued my way to the seashore. On the route we came to a high ridge, or plateau. This was the highest land I had seen between the Moonda and the Mani, and it is probable that, if it had not been for the trees, I should have seen the ocean very well. Along this ridge were strewn some of the most extraordinary boulders I ever saw. These immense blocks of granite covered the ground in every direction. Several of them were between twenty and thirty feet high, and about fifty feet long.