TERMITID.^— WHITE-ANTS. 137 



revenges himself upon the White-ant, and satisfies his 

 craving for animal food, which in those regions oftentimes 

 becomes a principle of action, — a passion, — by boiling the 

 largest and fattest species, and eating them as a relish with 

 his insipid porridge.^ 



Buchanan says the Termes, or White-ant, is a common 

 article of food among one of the Hindoo tribes ; Mr. Forbes 

 says, of the low castes in Mysore, and the Carnatic.^ Cap- 

 tain Green relates that, in the ceded districts of India, the 

 natives place the branches of trees over the nests, and then 

 by means of smoke drive out the insects ; which attempting 

 to fly, their wings are broken off by the mere touch of the 

 branches.^ 



The female Termite, in particular, is supposed by the 

 Hindoos to be endowed with highly nutritive properties, 

 and, we are told by Mr, Broughton, was carefully sought 

 after and preserved for the use of the debilitated Surjee 

 Rao, Prime-minister of Scindia, chief of the Mahrattas.* 



The Hottentots not only eat the Termites in their perfect 

 state, but also, when their corn is consumed and they are 

 reduced to the necessity, in their pupa. These pupae, which 

 they call "rice," on account of their resemblance to that 

 grain, they usually wash, and cook with a small quantity of 

 water. Prepared in this way they are said to be palatable ; 

 and if the people find a place where they can obtain them 

 in abundance, they soon become fat upon them, even when 

 previously much reduced by hunger. A large nest will 

 sometimes yield a bushel of pupce.^ 



Termite queens in the East Indies are given alive to old 

 men for strengthening the back.*^ 



1 Burton's Cent. Africa, i. 202. 



2 Buchanan, i. 7; Forbes, Orient. Mem., i. 305. 



3 Kirb. and Sp. Introd., i. 308, note. 



* Letters loritten in a Mahratta Camp in 1809. 



5 Backhouse, p. 584. 



6 Fhil. Trans., Ixxi. 167-8, note. 



la 



