950 
a convenient track to the roof, or is 
itself a kind of wood agreeable to 
them, they bring their mortar, and 
fill all, or most of the cavities, 
leaving the necessary roads through 
it, and as fast as they take away the 
wood replace the vacancy with that 
material; which, being worked to- 
gether by them, more close and 
more compact}; than human strength 
or art could ram it, when the house 
is pulled to pieces, in order to exa« 
mine it any of the posts are fit to be 
used again, those of the softer kinds 
are often tound reduced almost to a 
shell, and all, or a greater part, 
transformed from wood to clay, as 
solid and as hard as many kinds of 
free-stone used for building in Eng- 
land. It is much the same when the 
termites bellicosé yet into a-chest or 
trunk, contaiuing clothes and other 
things, ff the weight above is. great, 
or they are afraid of ants or other 
enemies, and have time, they carry 
their pipes through, and replace a 
great part with clay, running their 
galleries in various directions. 
The tree termites, indeed, when 
they get within a box, often.make a 
nest there, and being once in posses- 
sion, destroy it at their leisure. 
They did so to the pyramidal box 
which contained my compound mi- 
croscope. It was of mahogany, and 
I had Jeft it in the store of gover- 
nor Compbell, of Tobago, for a few 
months, wile’ I made the tour of 
the Leeward Islands, On my return 
T found these insects bad done much 
mischief in the store, and among 
other things, had taken possession of 
the microscope, and 
thing about it except the glass.or 
metal, and the board on which the 
pedestal 1s fixed, with the drawers 
under it, and the things inclosed. 
The celis were built all round the 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 
eaten every | 
1806. 
pedestal and the tube, and attached 
to it on every side. All the glasses 
which were covered with the wooden 
substance of their nests, retained a 
cloud of a gummy nature upon 
‘them, that was not easily got off, 
and the lacquer or burnish with 
which the brassework was covered, 
was totally spoiled. Another party . 
had taken a liking to the staves of a 
Madeira cask, and had let out almost 
a pipe of old wine. If the large 
species of Africa (the ¢ermites belli- 
cost) had been so long in the unin- 
terrupted possession of such a store, 
they would not have left twenty 
pounds weight of wood remaining of 
the whole building, aud all that it 
contained. 
These insects are not less expedi« 
tious in destroying the shelves, 
wainscoting, and other fixtures of a 
house, than the house itself. They 
are for ever piercing and boring in 
all ‘directions, and sometimes go out 
of the broad side of one post into 
that of another joining to it; but 
they prefer, and always destroy the 
softer substances first, and are par- 
ticularly fond of pine and fir boards,’ 
which they excavate, and carry away 
with wonderful dispatch, and asto- 
nishiig cunning: for, except ashelf- 
bas something standing upon it, as a 
book, or any thing else which may 
tempt them, they will not perforate 
the surface, but artfully preserve it 
quite whole, and eat away all the 
inside, except a few fibres, which 
barely keep the two sides connected 
together, so that a piece of an inch 
board, which appears solid to the 
eye, will not weigh much more than 
two Sheets of pasteboard of equal 
dimensions, after these animals bave 
been a little while in possession of it. 
In short, the termiles are so insi« 
dious in their attacks, that we 
2 cannot 
