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.
CHAPTER XXII
A JOURNEY TO THE ELEPHANT COUNTRY—SERIOUS ANNOYANCE FROM FLIES, WASPS, AND MOSQUITOES—IN THE MIDST OF A DROVE OF HIPPOPOTAMI.