with living, moving objects!
Ha! _it is a "chacu" of the white ants_.

Leon now comprehended the whole affair. The ground was literally alive
with the terrible _termites_. They had made their foray, or "chacu," as
it is called, from the neighbouring cones; they had attacked the
helpless ais, and put them to death, with their poisonous stings!
Already they were tearing them to pieces, and bearing them off to their
dark caves! So thick were they on the bodies of the animals, that the
latter had suddenly changed their colour, and now appeared to be nothing
more than living heaps of crawling insects!

It was a hideous sight to behold, and Leon felt his flesh creep as he
looked upon it. Still he felt a curiosity to witness the result, and he
stood watching the busy crowd that had gathered about the ais. He had
heard strange accounts of these white ants; how that, in a few minutes,
they will tear the carcasses of large animals to pieces, and carry them
away to their dens; and he was determined to prove the truth of this by
observation. He did not go any nearer, for he was not without some dread
of these ugly creatures; but, happening to find himself beside a small
tree, with low horizontal branches, he climbed up, and sat down upon one
of the branches, resting his feet upon another. He was inclined to take
the thing as easily as possible.

His perch commanded a full view of the operations of the termites, and
for a long time he sat watching them with interest. He could see that it
was not the same set that were always on the carcasses of the ais. On
the contrary, one host were always leaving the spot, while another took
their places, and from the great conical houses fresh bands appeared to
issue. In fact, two great parallel belts of them, like army columns,
stretched from the "hills" to the ais, going in opposite directions.

Those which travelled towards the cells presented a very different
appearance to the others. These were loaded with pieces of torn flesh,
or skin with tufts of hair adhering to it; and each ant carried a piece
by far larger than its own body. Their bodies, in fact, were quite
hidden under their disproportionate burdens. The others--those which
were coming from the conical hills--were empty-handed, and presented the
appearance of a whittish stream flowing along the surface of the ground!

It was a most singular sight; and Leon sat watching the creatures until
his head was giddy, and he felt as though