$2 TERMITES. 



sects. Amongst the destructive classes may be 

 ranged the temiites, found in Africa and other warm 

 climates^ whose mischievous propensities are exerted 

 in such an extraordinary manner, that no vigilance is 

 a security against their attacks. It seems like a 

 traveller's wonder to say, that a little insect, not 

 larger than an ant, can undermine houses, destroy the 

 supports and the woodwork, make its way through 

 the floors, consume clothes, furniture, books, and every 

 other article that is not made of stone or of metal. 

 If the natives abandon a town composed of wooden 

 houses, these industrious ravagers will clear it away 

 so completely, that in two or three years a thick 

 wood arises on the vacant space, and not a vestige of 

 a house remains, unless any of the posts were made of 

 iron-wood. 



Some instances of their rapacity may be amusing 

 to those not interested in the consequences ; in order, 

 therefore, to give a more exact idea of their operations, 

 I shall relate the following circumstances. An engi- 

 neer, who had been surveying a district in the Brazils, 

 at going to rest, left his trunk on a table, as he sup- 

 posed, in safety ; by the morning, he found his clothes 

 and papers so far destroyed, that he was not able 

 to collect a piece of either so large as a square inch. 



At another time, a party of them discovered a cask 



