The apparently solid logs of the whole house are now all mere
cylinders of bark, and through the thickest of them you could
push your little finger. The household furniture--in fact
everything made of wood--has been attacked and utterly ruined.
Indeed, the ants will gnaw through most substances except
earthenware, glass, iron, and tin. So greatly are these tiny
creatures feared in certain parts of Africa that, in those
districts, wooden trunks are never carried by experienced
travelers.
The white ant is never visible. Why it should not show itself is
strange--it is stone blind. But its modesty is really due to a
desire for self-protection; for the moment it shows itself above
ground it finds a dozen enemies waiting to devour it. Still, the
white ant can never procure food until it does come above the
surface of the soil.
Night is the great feeding time in the tropics, but it is clear
that darkness is no protection to the ant, and yet without coming
out of the ground it cannot live. The difficulty is solved thus:
It takes earth up with it.
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