Nor are they even at liberty to go
out in a body if their wise little slaves do not think the
weather favorable, if they fear a storm, or if the day is far
advanced. When an excursion proves unsuccessful, and they return
without children, the little blacks are stationed at the gates of
the city to forbid their ingress, and send them back to the
combat; nay more, you may see them take the cowards by the
collar, and force them to retrace their route.
These are astounding facts; but they were seen by Huber, as here
described. Not being able to trust his eyes, he summoned one of
the greatest naturalists of Sweden, Jurine, to his side, to make
new investigations and decide whether he had been deceived. This
witness, and others who made similar observations, found that his
discoveries were just as he had described them. Yet, after all
these weighty testimonies, I still doubted, until on a certain
occasion in the park of Fontainebleau, I saw it with my own eyes.
It was half past four in the afternoon of a very warm day. From a
pile of stones emerged a column of from four to five hundred red
or reddish ants.
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