These bashikouay do smell things a long way off, and they are guided by their sense of smell. They are quite large, often the ordinary-sized ones being half an inch long, and are armed with very powerful fore-legs and large strong jaws, or nippers, with which they bite. The head is almost if not quite as large as the body; the large ones are almost one inch in length. The kind of which I have spoken is dark brown in color, but I have found in the mountains of the interior a somewhat larger species, almost black, and intensely voracious. Besides these two there is still another species of bashikouay, which I have only met two or three times in the mountains south of the equator. It is of a great size, at least double the size of the one I have just spoken to you about. The body is grayish-white in color, the head of reddish-black; its fangs are very powerful, and it is able to make a clean bite out of one’s legs. It is thus a very formidable animal, but fortunately its motions are not as quick as those of its fierce brother; for if they were, I do not know what would become of a man in the midst of such an army. It does not march in such vast armies, nor does it precipitate itself upon its prey with such an irresistible fury. In its motions it is almost sluggish. They do not invade villages, or climb trees in pursuit of prey, and they are not so voracious as their fellows before mentioned. If they were, they would doubtless clear the country of every living thing, for they are much more powerful. They are, in fact, to the other ants what whales are to fish. If as ferocious, they would depopulate the country, and would themselves have to starve and then disappear. Now I have told you about the bashikouay, and feel that I could tell you more; and you may rely implicitly on what I have said, for what I have written is from very close observation. I wish this record of the bashikouay to stand. Some day civilization may reach Equatorial and Central Africa; then the forest will give place to open fields, and the bashikouay ant will disappear, for it can not bear an open country. Such is the order of nature which God has created, that when a race of men or beasts has gone it will never come back. The mastodon, and those gigantic animals and reptiles which once were, have never reappeared. [Illustration: [Fleuron]] CHAPTER XVI. THE SORROWS OF THE BIRDS.—CURIOUS AFRICAN BIRDS.—THE BARBATULA DU CHAILLUI.—THE BARBATULA FULIGINOSA.—THE SYCOBIUS NIGERRIMUS. Now I must speak to you of little birds! I do love birds. They are Nature’s beautiful creatures. They are one of God’s loveliest creations. They cheer us in our lonely hours, when from their bowers their songs come upon our ears and gladden our hearts. Their melodies have often told me how happy they were, and how much one bird loved the other. They are the poets of nature.