CHAPTER XXIX.
THE ANT-EATER OF AFRICA.
Hans was saluted by a volley of questions, "Where have you been? Whatdetained you? What has happened to you? You're all safe and sound? Nothurt, I hope?" These and a few others were asked in a breath.
"I'm sound as a bell," said Hans; "and for the rest of your inquiriesI'll answer them all as soon as Swartboy has skinned this 'aard-vark,'and Totty has cooked a piece of it for supper; but I'm too hungry totalk now, so pray excuse me."
As Hans gave this reply, he cast from his shoulders an animal nearly asbig as a sheep, covered with long bristly hair of a reddish-grey colour,and having a huge tail, thick at the root, and tapering like a carrot; asnout nearly a foot long, but quite slender and naked; a very smallmouth; erect pointed ears resembling a pair of horns; a low flattishbody; short muscular legs; and claws of immense length, especially onthe fore-feet, where, instead of spreading out, they were doubled backlike shut fists, or the fore hands of a monkey. Altogether a very oddanimal was that which Hans had styled an "aard-vark," and which hedesired should be cooked for supper.
"Well, my boy," replied Von Bloom, "we'll excuse you, the more so thatwe are all of us about as hungry as yourself, I fancy. But I think wemay as well leave the 'aard-vark' for to-morrow's dinner. We've a coupleof peacocks here, and Totty will get one of them ready sooner than theaard-vark."
"As for that," rejoined Hans, "I don't care which. I'm just in thecondition to eat anything--even a steak of tough old quagga, if I hadit; but I think it would be no harm if Swartboy--that is, if you're nottoo tired, old Swart--would just peel the skin off this gentleman."
Hans pointed to the "aard-vark."
"And dress him so that he don't spoil," he continued; "for you know,Swartboy, that he's a tit-bit--a regular _bonne bouche_--and it would bea pity to let him go to waste in this hot weather. An aard-vark's not tobe bagged every day."
"You spreichen true, Mynheer Hans,--Swartboy know all dat. Him skin anddress da goup."
And, so saying, Swartboy out knife, and set to work upon the carcass.
Now this singular-looking animal which Hans called an "aard-vark," andSwartboy a "goup," was neither more or less than the African ant-eater.
Although the colonists term it "aard-vark," which is the Dutch for"ground-hog," the animal has but little in common with the hog kind. Itcertainly bears some resemblance to a pig about the snout and cheeks;and that, with its bristly hair and burrowing habits, has no doubtgiven rise to the mistaken name. The "ground" part of the title is fromthe fact that it is a burrowing animal,--indeed, one of the best"terriers" in the world. It can make its way under ground, faster thanthe spade can follow it, and faster than any badger. In size, habits,and the form of many parts of its body, it bears a striking resemblanceto its South American cousin the "tamanoir," which of late years hasbecome so famous as almost to usurp the title of "ant-eater."
But the "aard-vark" is just as good an ant-eater as he,--can "crack" asthick-walled a house, can rake up and devour as many termites as any"ant-bear" in the length and breadth of the Amazon Valley. He has got,moreover, as "tall" a tail as the tamanoir, very nearly as long a snout,a mouth equally small, and a tongue as extensive and extensile. In clawshe can compare with his American cousin any day, and can walk just asawkwardly upon the sides of his fore-paws with "toes turned in."
Why, then, may I ask, do we hear so much talk of the "tamanoir," whilenot a word is said of the "aard-vark?" Every museum and menagerie isbragging about having a specimen of the former, while not one cares toacknowledge their possession of the latter! Why this enviousdistinction? I say it's all Barnum. It's because the "aard-vark's" aDutchman--a Cape boer--and the boers have been much bullied of late.That's the reason why zoologists and showmen have treated mythick-tailed boy so shabbily. But it shan't be so any longer; I stand upfor the aard-vark; and, although the tamanoir has been specially called_Myrmecophaga_, or ant-eater, I say that the _Orycteropus_ is as good anant-eater as he.
He can break through ant-hills quite as big and bigger--some of themtwenty feet high--he can project as long and as gluey a tongue--twentyinches long--he can play it as nimbly and "lick up" as many white ants,as any tamanoir. He can grow as fat too, and weigh as heavy, and, whatis greatly to his credit, he can provide you with a most delicate roastwhen you choose to kill and eat him. It is true he tastes slightly offormid acid, but that is just the flavour that epicures admire. And whenyou come to speak of "hams,"--ah! try his! Cure them well and properly,and eat one, and you will never again talk of "Spanish" or"Westphalian."
Hans knew the taste of those hams--well he did, and so too Swartboy; andit was not against his inclination, but _con amore_, that the latter setabout butchering the "goup."
Swartboy knew how precious a morsel he held between hisfingers,--precious, not only on account of its intrinsic goodness, butfrom its rarity; for although the aard-vark is a common animal in SouthAfrica, and in some districts even numerous, it is not every day thehunter can lay his hands upon one. On the contrary, the creature is mostdifficult to capture; though not to kill, for a blow on the snout willdo that.
But just as he is easily killed when you catch him, in the sameproportion is he hard to catch. He is shy and wary, scarce ever comesout of his burrow but at night; and even then skulks so silently along,and watches around him so sharply, that no enemy can approach withouthis knowing it. His eyes are very small, and, like most nocturnalanimals, he sees but indifferently; but in the two senses of smell andhearing he is one of the sharpest. His long erect ears enable him tocatch every sound that may be made in his neighbourhood, however slight.
The "aard-vark" is not the only ant-eating quadruped of South Africa.There is another four-footed creature as fond of white ants as he; butthis is an animal of very different appearance. It is a creature withouthair; but instead, its body is covered all over with a regular coat ofscales, each as large as a half-crown piece. These scales slightlyoverlie each other, and can be raised on end at the will of the animal.In form it resembles a large lizard, or a small crocodile, more than anordinary quadruped, but its habits are almost exactly like those of theaard-vark. It burrows, digs open the ant-hills by night, projects a longviscous tongue among the insects, and devours them with avidity.
When suddenly overtaken, and out of reach of its underground retreat, it"clews" up like the hedgehog, and some species of the South Americanarmadillos--to which last animal it bears a considerable resemblance onaccount of its scaly coat of mail.
This ant-eater is known as the "pangolin," or "manis," but there areseveral species of "pangolin" not African. Some are met with in SouthernAsia and the Indian islands. That which is found in South Africa isknown among naturalists as the "long-tailed" or "Tem-minck" pangolin(_Manis Temminckii_).
Totty soon produced a roasted "peacock," or rather a hastily-broiledbustard. But, although, perhaps, not cooked "to a turn," it wassufficiently well done to satisfy the stomachs for which it wasintended. They were all too hungry to be fastidious, and, without a wordof criticism, they got through their dinner.
Hans then commenced relating the history of his day's adventure.