162 NATURAL HISTORY. [CH. VIH. 



The nests of these insects are usually termed 

 hills by natives, as well as strang-ers, from their out- 

 ward appearance, which, being more or less conical, 

 generally resemble the form of a sugar-loaf; they 

 rise about ten or twelve feet in perpendicular height 

 above the ordinary surface of the ground. 



They continue quite bare till they reach the height 

 of six or eight feet ; but in time the dead barren clay 

 of which they are composed becomes fertili^d by 

 the genial influence of the elements in these prolific 

 climates ; and in the second or third year, the hil- 

 lock, if not overshaded by trees, becomes like the 

 rest of the earth, almost covered with grass and 

 other plants; and in the dry season, when the herb- 

 age is burnt up by the rays of the sun, it appears 



