Ants, too, were among our enemies. And once you have been amongst red fighting ants in long marsh grass you are never likely to forget them. Sometimes, too, those species trek during the night, and I have seen a sleeping camp turned out in the middle of the night by those insects swarming over everyone and biting furiously. And, after a day of hard trekking, this kind of disturbance is very far from pleasant, as may be judged by the vicious exclamations of abuse that arise out of the darkness. These red ants were the worst of their tribe, and many an uncomfortable experience we had with them. Again, there was a tiny species of ant that was always with us. It infested every article of our belongings, and particularly anything edible, and on that score was a great nuisance, though quite harmless otherwise. As if there was not enough to plague the life of man, spiders, tarantulas, and scorpions on occasions found their way into your blanket, and they were insects that were dreaded, for their stings were very painful and poisonous and inflamed and irritated the part afflicted for days. There are a great many bees in East Africa, and the natives place hives for them in the trees and collect the wild honey from time to time. These bees, if annoyed, are the most dreadful insect in Africa. On two occasions hives were disturbed by our battalion, and swarms of the annoyed inmates descended to inflict terrible punishment on all those in the neighbourhood. On the first occasion their attack was more than human flesh could endure, and an entire company was routed in disorder from the neighbourhood. I have never before seen bees attack with such ferocity nor sting so poisonously. On the first occasion of attack one unfortunate man was completely overcome, and lay on the ground groaning and screaming, while bees were apparently biting him to death. From this he was rescued, but not before he was mentally unbalanced, and had to be removed to hospital. On the second occasion of attack another individual suffered almost equally severely. Many snakes were killed about camp, but no one of our battalion, so far as I know, was ever seriously bitten by one. One python was killed and a number of puff-adders, and a great many of the smaller grass snakes. I have seen men, when sleeping in the open, awake at daylight to find a snake, 4 to 6 feet long, curled against their body for warmth, but, on being disturbed, they slid off quietly into the grass, and were gone without attempting to be antagonistic.