In Ceylon creosoted timber is not attacked by white ants, but the black coating, if exposed, renders it so heat-absorbing, that it is apt to split, and, unless thoroughly impregnated with the creosote, a road is opened to the inside, and the ants will soon destroy all that part which is unprotected.
Coal-tar will destroy white ants. Some years ago Mr. Shields took short baulks of timber where the ants had commenced operations, and tried the system of pouring a very small stream of coal-tar through the heart of the timber which the ants had hollowed out, and afterwards splitting it open to see the result. He found the white ants completely destroyed; they were shrivelled up like shreds of half-burnt paper by the mere effluvium of the coal-tar.
Creosoting is excellent for railway sleepers, piles, &c., but it will not do for buildings, which the white ants prefer. It is objectionable for dwellings; 1st, on account of its smell, which is disagreeable; 2nd, on account of its colour, black, which is unsightly; 3rd, on account of its inflammability.
With regard to the depredations of white ants, anything of a bitter taste injected into the fibre of the wood prevents their attacks, though it may not be so good as coal-tar; even a small quantity of turpentine has the effect of killing them instantly. Carbolic acid has been used, but its smell is objectionable. In South America, the leaves of the black walnut are soaked in water for some hours, then boiled; and when the liquid has cooled, it is applied to the skins of horses and other animals, to prevent their being bitten or “worried” by insects. We do not know if this has been used as a wash, or injected into wood, to prevent it being “worried” by ants.
It thus appears that there is no remedy generally adopted in tropical climates for preventing the depredations of the white ants; but there is one method very frequently adopted in hot countries of getting rid of them. It is a desperate remedy, we admit, but desperate cases frequently require desperate remedies: it is simply by EATING THEM. Europeans have pronounced the termites to be peculiarly delicate and well flavoured, something like sweetened cream. The termites are prepared for the table by various methods, some persons pounding them so as to form them into a kind of soft paste, while others roast them like coffee-beans or chestnuts. Termites, or white ants, are eaten by various African tribes, both raw and boiled; and it is said that the Hottentots “get into good condition on this diet.” In India, the natives capture great quantities of these insects, which they mix up with flour, producing a kind of pastry, which is purchased at a cheap rate by the poorer classes. In Ceylon, bears feed on the termites. Some of the Africans prepare large quantities of them for food, by parching them in kettles over a slow fire; in this condition they were eaten by handfuls as delicious food. The traveller Smeathman states that he often ate them dressed in this way, and found them to be “delicate, nourishing, and wholesome, resembling in flavour sugared cream, or sweet-almond paste.” In Brazil, the yellow ants are eaten by many persons. Humboldt states that in some of the South American countries ants are mixed with resin and eaten as a sauce. In Siam, ants’ eggs are considered a luxury; they are sent to the table curried, or rolled in green leaves mingled with fine slices or shreds of fat pork. In Sweden, ants are distilled along with rye to give a flavour to the inferior kinds of brandy. Chemists have ascertained that ants secrete a pleasant kind of vinegar, or a peculiar acid, called formic acid.
In Brazil, however, the eating process goes on extensively as follows:
1st. Ants eat the wood.
2nd. Ant-eaters eat the ants.
3rd. Woodsmen eat the ant-eaters.