SINGULAR SIGHT IN THE FOREST—ALL KINDS OF ANIMALS FLEEING IN ONE DIRECTION—A TERRIBLE ANT—THE BASHIKOUAY ARMY—ATTACKED EVERYWHERE AT ONCE—HOW I ESCAPED THE TORMENTORS.

A few days after my return from the gorilla hunt I found myself one morning all alone. Regundo had gone for the day. The men were cutting trees for a new plantation; the women were weeding the fields. Feeling somewhat lonely, I left for the forest, armed with a gun. I became so interested on my way in collecting insects and butterflies that the time passed quickly, and before I was aware of it the greater part of the day had gone, and I could not reach the plantation before dark. Knowing this I decided to remain and camp in the forest, for it was impossible to follow the path in the darkness. I had no torch with me, and a leopard might pounce upon me while on my way. So I lighted a fire, collected large leaves, built my camp, and gathered a lot of dead wood, for I intended to surround myself by four fires during the night to make sure that no wild beasts or snakes should come near me. I slept well, waking two or three times during the night to attend to the fires. The following morning I determined to go a little further before I retraced my steps towards the plantation.

After a while I noticed a number of snakes which seemed to follow each other in rapid succession, creeping as fast as they could, and all going in the same direction. Two or three of these passed close to me.

Suddenly I heard the tramping of elephants through the jungles breaking down everything before them, and apparently running as fast as they could. One of them crossed the path in sight of me. They were going in the same direction as the snakes.

These were followed by a number of gazelles, antelopes and wild boars. The forest seemed alive with beasts. These went also in the same direction that the snakes and elephants had gone.

I stood still for a moment, for I had never seen such a sight before, when to my utter astonishment a leopard passed near by, bounding and running as fast as it could in the direction of the other animals. “What is the cause of this leopard leaving his lair during the day time, for they generally sleep during the day?” I asked myself. A strange feeling of fear and awe came over me. I thought that some great convulsion of nature was about to take place. The earth was perhaps to open, and a volcano burst out at the spot where I stood. An involuntary dread that something grave was to happen came over me. The forest became alive with multitudes of insects and butterflies. They too were fleeing, and in the same direction which the animals had taken before them. A great number of insectivorous birds followed them, preying on them in their flight. In a word, all the living creatures of the forest were in a panic, and were all fleeing in the same direction.

Just as I was about to retrace my steps and run as fast as I could towards the plantation, I found myself suddenly covered with countless ants, which bit me with the greatest ferocity. In an instant they were biting me everywhere,—on my legs, on my arms, on my back, on my neck, they were in my hair. As I ran I tried to kill those that were on my body, those that were outside had their pincers fast in my clothes. They were also everywhere around me, on the ground and on the trees.

These ants were the fierce bashikouays. They were on the war-path, and attacked on their march every leaving creature. Fortunately I could run away in the path faster than they could advance, but I could not get rid of those that were already on me. After about one hour’s run I came to a stream, took off my watch and put it on the ground, and then lay flat at the bottom of the shallow water, in order that it might cover me entirely, and drown the ants. I did not dare to stay too long in the water, for fear that the bashikouay army would overtake me. Fortunately I succeeded ere long in drowning them, for I did not feel any more bites.

Panting and out of breath I reached the plantation before dark, and I told Regundo about the bashikouays, and how animals and insects had fled at their approach, but did not tell him how I had been bitten by them.

Regundo said: “These ants are called bashikouays, and they were on the war-path.”

“What do you mean, Regundo, when you say that the bashikouays were on the war-path?” I asked.

“When they are not on the war-path,” he replied, “they walk close together in a line. They are as thick as the grains of dry earth or of sand on the sandy shores of a river; then they are harmless, for they attack no one. But when they scatter, they attack every living thing that comes in their way. They even climb trees, going after insects. Gorillas, elephants, leopards, all living things, flee before them. When they come into our villages or into our houses, we have to protect ourselves, our children, and our babies, by boiling water, fire, and hot ashes.”

Two or three days after my adventure with the bashikouays, Regundo came to me, saying: “Follow me, and you will see the bashikouay ants in marching order; they are harmless, for they are not on the war-path.”

I followed him, and soon after he stopped and said: “Here they are,” and I saw a moving line of bashikouays crossing the pass, the line being about two inches in width.