THE WHITE ANT : A THEORY. 749 



less, with tunnels. The elevation of this locality was about five thou- 

 sand feet above the sea, and the distance from the equator some 9 ; 

 but nowhere else have I seen a spot where the termites were so com- 

 pletely masters of the situation as here. If it is the case that in these, 

 the most elevated regions of Central Africa, the termite colonies attain 

 their maximum development, the fact is of much interest in connec- 

 tion with the geological and agricultural function which they seem to 

 serve ; for it is here precisely, before the rivers have gathered volume, 

 that alluvium is most wanting ; it is here that the tiny head-waters of 

 these same rivers collect the earth for subsequent distribution over the 

 distant plains and coasts ; and, though the white ant may itself have 

 no power, in the first instance, of creating soil, as a denuding and 

 transporting agent its ministry can scarcely be exaggerated. If this 

 is its function in the economy of Nature, it is certainly clear that the 

 insect to which this task is assigned is planted where, of all places, it 

 can most effectively fulfill the end. 



The direct relation of the termites' work to denudation will still 

 further appear, if we try to imagine the effect upon these accumula- 

 tions of earth-pellets and grains of an ordinary rainy season. For 

 two or three months in the tropics, though intermittently, the rains 

 lash the forests and soils with a fury such as we, fortunately, have 

 little idea of. And though the earth-works, and especially the larger 

 ant-hills, have marvelous resisting properties, they are not invulner- 

 able, and must ultimately succumb to denuding agents. The tunnels, 

 being only required for a temporary purpose, are made substantial 

 enough only to last the occasion. And, in spite of the natural glue 

 which cements the pellets of earth together, the structure, as a whole, 

 after a little exposure, becomes extremely friable, and crumbles to 

 pieces at a touch. When the earth-tubes crumble into dust in the 

 summer season, the debris is scattered over the country by the wind, 

 and in this way tends to increase and refresh the soil. During the 

 rains, again, it is washed into the rivulets and borne away to fertilize 

 with new alluvium the distant valleys or carried downward to the 

 ocean, where along the coast-line it " sows the dust of continents to 

 be." Herodotus, with equal poetic and scientific truth, describes 

 Egypt as " the gift of the Nile." Possibly had he lived to-day he 

 might have carried his vision farther back still, and referred some of 

 it to the labors of the humble termites in the forest slopes about 

 Victoria Nyanza. Good Words. 



