212 • [Siii-T. 



more of a desire to relate tlic simple trutli ia the liistory ol tlic ii;sect, than any 

 that I have seen. The figures, however, which stand at the head of his account, 

 are decidedly bad. 



The first thing tliut strikes a visitor who is familiar with Adamson's and 

 Smeathman's observations, when he arrives on the coast of Africa, is the great 

 sparseness of the Termites' hills. Instead of "acres so thickly covered, as to 

 appear like the huts of native si-ttiements," his eye may wander over acres v.'iih- 

 out seeing one ; one cause of this sparseness may have arisen to some extent, 

 from the introduction of civilization. The visitor usually lands first at the Eu- 

 ropean or American settlements, where the hills in t'ueir immediate vicinity are 

 mostly destroyed. This has be^'U done, first, from the notion that the insect 

 " ate down their dwellings ;" and, secondly, froni tlio superiority of the clay of 

 which thsy are constructed, which is used for buildin:^ purposes. At no point, 

 however, between Cape Verd and the Gaboon river, will the stranger remark 

 them for their numbers. 



They more frequently occur on plane and t!at lands; making their appearance 

 especially soon after the lands have been cleared for planting, at which time trees 

 are left girdled and prostrate to decay. 



The features which first strike the beholder are their great size and form. 

 These have been well represented by Smeathman, though two hills cannot b; 

 found exactly alike. Their contour is generally that of a hay-stack — the surfac; 

 never regular, always marked with protuberances and upward projections, often 

 not unlike " turrets," as termed by Smeathman. 



Sometimes the hill presents the aspect of a mound having been worn down by 

 the heavy rains, or, if in the vicinity of a village, by children playing upon it. In 

 such'Cases they may be forsaken. 



When they present distinct upward projections, or turrets, they are known lo 

 be in the process of enlargement. This is always the mode in which these in- 

 sects increase their domicils. Turrets are projected one after another, and the 

 intervening spaces filled out, so as to make a continuous surface. Within each of 

 these turrets is a cavity which leads down as a passage, into the interior of the 

 hill, or terminates in some other passage, keeping up a free communication 

 througliout the structure. When hills present in their general outline the form 

 of a hay stack, they have arrived at their maximum size. Their height in such 

 cases is from 12 to 15 feet perpendicular measurement, the circumference at 

 base from ."iO to 60 feet ; at two-thirds the height, or around the base of the 

 " dome," from 30 to -10 feet. 



The materials have for their base, clay, generally strongly tinged with oxide of 

 iron in the recent state; after exposure to the sun and atmosphere, it takes on a 

 lisjht color, approaching a dull yellow, in some cases white. There is an admix- 

 ture, more or less, of other substances incidentally occurring, as gravel, leaves, 

 straw, &r. 



Sometimes the clay presents a dark, slaty aspect, which is incorrectly stated in 

 books, to be an indication of a different species of insects. This fact is owing to 

 different colored clays, existing in different localities. 



The strength of these structures is incalculably great ; as an evidence of thi8> 

 Smeathman states that they are often mounted by wild bulls, and four men were 

 known to stand on one to spy a vessel at sea. But more than this, t/ici/ vovld 

 Siiftain more iti'd bulls ami men than could pass ill y nwunt them. The particles 



