does, they snap off with the greatest ease.  Indeed, they seem formed only to serve the insect in its short flight to a new habitation, and then to be thrown aside.  Nothing can exceed the eagerness with which, at the proper time, they rush out from their birth-place.  Occasionally this occurs in a house, and then, in order to prevent every corner from being filled with them, I have seen a fire placed over the orifice; but they hesitate not even to pass through the fire.  While swarming they appear like snow-flakes floating about in the air, and dogs, cats, hawks, and almost every bird, may be seen busily devouring them.  The natives, too, profit by the occasion, and actively collect them for food, they being about half an inch long, as thick as a crow-quill, and very fat.  When roasted they are said to be good, and somewhat resemble grains of boiled rice.  An idea may be formed of this dish by what once occurred on the banks of the Zouga.  The Bayeiye chief Palani visiting us while eating, I gave him a piece of bread and preserved apricots; and as he seemed to relish it much, I asked him if he had any food equal to that in his country.  “Ah!” said he, “did you ever taste white ants?” As I never had, he replied, “Well, if you had, you never could have desired to eat any thing better.”  The general way of catching them is to dig into the ant-hill, and wait till the builders come forth to repair the damage, then brush them off quickly into a vessel, as the ant-eater does into his mouth.

The fall of the rain makes all the cattle look fresh and clean, and both men and women proceed cheerily to their already hoed gardens, and sow the seed.  The large animals in the country leave the spots where they had been compelled to congregate for the sake of water, and become much wilder.  Occasionally a herd of buffaloes or antelopes smell rain from afar, and set off in a straight line toward the place.  Sometimes they make mistakes, and are obliged to return to the water they had left.

Very large tracts of country are denuded of old grass during the winter by means of fire, in order to attract the game to that which there springs up unmixed with the older crop.  This new herbage has a renovating tendency, for as long as they feed on the dry grass of the former season they continue in good condition; but no sooner are they able to indulge their appetites on the fresh herbage, than even the marrow in their bones becomes dissolved, and a red, soft, uneatable mass is left behind.  After this commences the work of regaining their former plumpness.

May 30th.  We left Bango, and proceeded to the River Loembwe, which flows to the N.N.E., and abounds in hippopotami.  It is about sixty yards wide, and four feet deep, but usually contains much less water than this, for there are fishing-weirs placed right across it.  Like all the African rivers in this quarter, it has morasses on each bank, yet the valley in which it winds, when seen from the