134 TERMITIDyE — WHITE- ANTS. 



SO roughly, that when brought into port, being no longer 

 fit for service, she was obliged to be broken up.^ 



Lutfullah, in his Autobiography, relates the following : 

 " I returned the couch kindly sent to me by a friend, with 

 my thanks, and made my bed on the ground, placing my 

 new desk of Morocco leather at the head to serve as a pil- 

 low, and went to bed. In the morning, when roused by the 

 bugle, I found my bed strewed with damp dust, my skin ex- 

 coriated in some parts, and my back irritated in others. I 

 called my servant, who was saddling ray horse. 'Mahdilli,' 

 said I angrily, 'you have been throwing dust all over my 

 bed and self, in shaking the trappings of the horse near my 

 bed in the tent.' — ' No, sir, I have done no such thing,' was 

 his reply. When I took up my cloak it fell to pieces in my 

 hand ; the blanket was in the same state, and the bottom of 

 my desk, with some valuable papers, were destroyed. ' What 

 misfortune is this ?' cried I to Mahdilli, who immediately 

 brought a burning stick to examine the cause, and coolly 

 observed, * It is the White-ants, sir, and no misfortune, but 

 a piece of bad luck, sir.' Poor man ! in all mishaps, I 

 always found him attaching blame to destiny, and never to 

 his own or my imprudence."- 



The Caffres, as we are informed by Mr. Latrobe, when 

 first permitted to settle at Guadenthal, before they could 

 build ovens, according to the custom of their'country, availed 

 themselves of the Ant-hills found in that neighborhood; for, 

 having destroyed the inhabitants by fire and smoke, they 

 scooped them out hollow, leaving a crust of a few inches in 

 thickness, and used them for baking, putting in three loaves 

 at a time.'^ 



Mr. Southey says that in Brazil the Spaniards hollow out 

 the nests of the Termites, and use them for ovens.* The 

 authority of Messrs. Kidder and Fletcher is, that in Brazil, 

 "the Termites' dwelling is sometimes overturned by the 

 slaves, the hollow scooped wider, and is then used as a bake- 

 oveu to parch Indian-corn."^ 



Mr. Latrobe also tells us that the clay of which these 



1 Introd., i. 247. 



2 Autohiog., Lond., 1858, p. 222-3. 



3 Lntr. S. Africa, p. 315. 



4 ///.v<. of Brazil, i. 319. 



5 Kid. and Flctch., Brazil, p. 443. 



t 



