236 A TERMITE-HILL. 
Guiana, but in Africa, New Holland, and in the prairies of North 
America. 
A host of travellers have described them. But the standard and 
most instructive authority is that of Smeathman, which now lies be- 
fore us, enriched with excellent plates. The drawings are taken from 
the termite-hills of Africa. 
Figure to yourself a mound of earth, about twelve feet high (some 
have been discovered measuring twenty), which, from a distance, might 
easily be mistaken for a negro’s hut. Approach it, and you will at 
once detect that it is the product of a higher art. Its curious form 
is that of a poimted dome; or, if you like, of an obtuse and preponder- 
ating obelisk. For support, the dome or obelisk has four, five, or six 
cupolas from five to six feet high; and against these are propped up 
below some small bell-like structures, nearly two feet in elevation. 
The whole might well be taken for a kind of Oriental cathedral, the 
principal spire of which had a double cincture of minarets, decreasing 
in height; the said whole being of extreme solidity, and composed of 
a compact clay, which, when burnt, makes the best bricks. Not only 
may several men stand upon it without injury, but even the wild bulls 
station themselves on its summit as sentinels to watch, through the 
high grasses of the plain, that the lon or panther does not surprise 
the herd. 
Nevertheless, this dome is hollow, and the inferior platform which 
supports it is itself supported by a semi-hollow construction formed by 
the junction of four arches (two to three feet in span),—arches of 
a very substantial design, being pointed, ogival, and in a kind of Gothic 
style. Lower still extends a number of passages or corridors, plastered 
spaces which one might call saloons, and finally, convenient, spacious, 
and healthy lodgings, capable of receiving a large population ; in brief, 
quite a subterranean city. 
A broad spiral passage winds and rises gradually in the thickness 
of the edifice, which has no opening, no door, no window; the vomi- 
tories are disguised and at a distance, terminating afar in the plain. 
It is the most considerable and important work which displays the 
genius of insects; a labour of infinite patience and of daring art. We 
