In "Wood's Bible Animals" you can read a full account
of this ant, and I think that after hearing of its exploits, we can
believe almost anything that we hear about the intelligence of
insects.
A FIRST SIGHT OF THE SEA.
[Illustration]
If you have ever seen the ocean, you will understand what a grand
thing it is to look for the first time upon its mighty waters,
stretching away into the distance, and losing themselves in the clouds
and sky. We know it is thousands of miles over to the other shore, but
for all that we have a pretty good idea of that shore. We know its
name, and have read about the people who live there.
But when, in the beginning of the sixteenth century, Vasco Nunez de
Balboa stood upon the shore of the Pacific, and gazed over its
boundless waters, the sight to him was both grand and mysterious. He
saw that a vast sea lay beneath and before him--but that was all he
knew. Europeans had not visited it before, and the Indians, who had
acted as his guides, knew but little about it. If he had desired to
sail across those vast blue waters, Balboa would have had no idea upon
what shores he would land or what wonderful countries and continents
he would discover.
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