IN REPUBLICS. 8585 
the night, and guarded through the day ; 
several avenues lead to the bottom of 
this subterraneous city; it is found to 
contain numerous stories, both above and 
underneath the surface of the ground, 
and is so constructed that the water can 
never gain admittance. 
Farther off, I observe a crowd of 
masons (ants) occupied in raising a 
building of immense size for insects so 
diminutive; they neither employ in its 
construction, like the bee, a valuable 
material which they have themselves 
formed, nor a light and thin substance 
resembling the finest pasteboard, such as 
that the wasp uses in the formation of its 
nest; its mortar is already prepared, the 
earth, rain-water, and the benefit of the 
sun, is all that is required in their masonry. 
The foundations of a new story are laid, 
walls are raised, ceilings are constructed, 
and their abode is arranged, with a view 
rather to convenience than regularity. 
Here I observe, proceed from the trunk 
of a tree, a file of ants; they have hewn 
