9 



Towards Townsville they increase in numbers, but, coming to the semi- 

 tropical jungles towards Cairns, they are chiefly arboreal forms along the 

 coast. From Cooktown, and all over Cape York and Thursday Island, 

 the larger nests are very numerous, and form a striking feature of the 

 landscape. At Somerset (Cape York) is to be found one of the most 

 remarkable white-ant cities in the world. Viewed from the sea, and looking 

 u]) beyond the old Government Residency, now occupied by Mr. Frank 

 Jardine's homestead, it appears as if the plain for a mile or more in 

 extent is covered with pointed pillars G to 7 feet in height, broad at 

 the base, and tapering to the summit, forming regular symmetrical pyra- 

 mids. They are thickly dotted over the plain, often only a few yards 

 apart; the effect is inuch heightened if the grass has been freshly burnt off, 

 as it had been the first time I steamed past Somerset. 



Several Avriters Iiave noticed this city of tlie termites. Mosely likens 

 them to kiln chimneys ; ho says that it gives thf country tlie appearance 



View of White Ants Nests, Cape York. 

 Taken from " A Nfitiu-alist in Austi-alia" ; S. Kent. 



of a pottery district in miniature, and states that many of tliem are 10 

 feet in height. D'Albertis, describing them, says: " Termites' nests, both 

 on the hills and plains, measured often 10 feet in height and 13 feet in 

 circumference at the base." He found, upon opening them, that many 

 had been attacked, and often the termites almost exterminated, by large 

 black ants. 



On Thursday Island, and many other islands round Cape York, the 

 same form of nest is common. Turning down into the Gulf country and 

 the watershed of the Flinders River and its tributaries is one of the most 

 termite-infested places in the world. Nothing is safe from their depreda- 

 tions ; stockyards, fences, and houses only remain intact for a few seasons, 



