nd on land. Of course they are
perennial here like the foliage, and viciously tormenting.

We often heard stories of fatal bites from scorpions, centipedes,
cobras, and other reptiles, but our own experience goes to show that
they are naturally inclined to avoid human beings. It is true that
repulsive insects and reptiles are to be looked out for. One is
careful to examine his shoes before putting them on in the morning,
and to take a few precautions of that sort. Cleanly houses do not
harbor them, though they do sometimes annoy the traveler in the public
rest-houses where he is often compelled to pass the night.

In the thickly wooded districts, the ants' nests are pyramidal in
form, and five feet high, being constructed with even more uniformity
than human hands could produce. Inside, they are divided into broad
passageways, square halls, and store-rooms, to produce which
divisions, so as to make them both accessible and convenient for the
purpose designed, requires mental calculation, the possession of which
we hardly accord to insects. Mere instinct could not insure such
results as are here exhibited. Ants, like bees, live in thoroughly
organized communities, and are found by naturalists to be divided into
laborers, soldiers, and food providers, all presided over by a
recognized chief in authority. On a warm, dry morning, any attentive
observer may see the white ants in the neighborhood of their hills
bringing out their eggs to warm them in the direct rays of the sun. In
proper time, before the dew falls, they are carefully returned to
their original place of deposit. The natives understand that there
will be no rain when the instinct--or reason if you will--of these
minute creatures leads them to expose their eggs to the influence of
the sun's rays. As barometers, these little insects surpass the most
accurate instrument which human intelligence can construct.

The interminable feuds and furious wars of the ant tribe are a curious
study in the tropics, where they would be an intolerable pest were
their numbers not daily reduced by various destructive agencies. It is
a provision of nature among animals and insects that a war of
extermination is constantly in progress among them. The stouter animal
preys upon the weaker. Birds, beasts, insects, and fishes, all are
cannibals in one sense. Just so among the barbaric tribes of Africa,
New Zealand, the Fiji Islands, Australia, etc.: the natives, since
time was young u