and on my neck and breast above. The bites of these
furies were like sparks of fire, and there was no retreat. I jumped
about for a second or two, then in desperation tore off all my clothing,
and rubbed and picked them off seriatim as quickly as possible. Ugh!
they would make the most lethargic mortal look alive. Fortunately, no
one observed this rencounter, or word might have been taken back to the
village that I had become mad. I was once assaulted in a similar way
when sound asleep at night in my tent, and it was only by holding
my blanket over the fire that I could get rid of them. It is really
astonishing how such small bodies can contain so large an amount of
ill-nature. They not only bite, but twist themselves round after the
mandibles are inserted, to produce laceration and pain, more than would
be effected by the single wound. Frequently, while sitting on the ox,
as he happened to tread near a band, they would rush up his legs to the
rider, and soon let him know that he had disturbed their march. They
possess no fear, attacking with equal ferocity the largest as well as
the smallest animals. When any person has leaped over the band, numbers
of them leave the ranks and rush along the path, seemingly anxious for
a fight. They are very useful in ridding the country of dead animal
matter, and, when they visit a human habitation, clear it entirely of
the destructive white ants and other vermin. They destroy many noxious
insects and reptiles. The severity of their attack is greatly increased
by their vast numbers, and rats, mice, lizards, and even the 'Python
natalensis', when in a state of surfeit from recent feeding, fall
victims to their fierce onslaught. These ants never make hills like the
white ant. Their nests are but a short distance beneath the soil, which
has the soft appearance of the abodes of ants in England. Occasionally
they construct galleries over their path to the cells of the white ant,
in order to secure themselves from the heat of the sun during their
marauding expeditions.

JANUARY 15TH, 1855. We descended in one hour from the heights of Tala
Mungongo. I counted the number of paces made on the slope downward, and
found them to be sixteen hundred, which may give a perpendicular height
of from twelve to fifteen hundred feet. Water boiled at 206 Degrees at
Tala Mungongo above, and at 208 Deg. at the bottom of the declivity, the
air being at 72 Deg. in the shade in the former case, and 94 Deg. in th