SS WN ee 
NATURAL HISTORY. 
mortar, either to lift or carry: it; 
one in:particular places himself close 
to the wall they are building. This 
soldier will turn‘bimself leisurely on 
all sides, and every now and then, at 
intervals of a minute or two, lift up 
his head, and with his forceps beat 
upon the building, and make the 
vibrating noise before mentioned, on 
which immediately a loud hiss, 
which appears to come from all the 
labourers, issues from  withinside 
the dome, and all the subterraneous 
caverns and passages; that it does 
come from the labourers is very 
evident, for you will see them all 
hasten at every such signal, redouble 
their pace, and work as fast again. 
As the most interesting experi- 
ments become dull by repetition or 
continuance, so the uniformity wita 
which this business is carried on, 
though so very wonderful, at last 
Satiates the mind. A renewal of the 
attack, however, instantly changes 
the scene, and gratifies our curiosity 
still more. At every stroke we hear 
a loud hiss; and on the first the 
labourers run into the many pipes 
and galleries with which the building 
is perforated, which they do so 
quickly that they seem to vanish, 
for in a few seconds all are gone, and 
the soldiers rush out, as numerous 
and as vindictive as before. On 
finding no enemy, they return again 
leisurely into the hill, and very soon 
after the labourers appear, loaded as 
at first, as active and as sedulous, 
with soldiers here and there among 
them, who act just in the same 
manner, one or other of them giving 
the signal io hasten the business. 
Thus the pleasure of seeing them 
come out to fight or to work alter- 
nately, may be obtained as often as 
Curiosity excites or time permits : 
and it will certainly be found, that 
953 
the one order never attempts to 
fight, or the other to work, let the 
emergency be ever so great. 
We meet vast obstacles in examin- 
ing the interior parts of these tu- 
muli. In the first place the work, 
for instance, the apartments which 
surround the royal chamber and the 
nurseries, and indeed the whole in- 
ternal fabric, are moist, and conse- 
quently the clay is very brittle : 
they have also so close a connection 
that they can only be seen as it 
were by piece-meal; for, having a 
kind of geometrical dependance or 
abutment against each other, the ° 
breaking of one arch pulls down two 
or three. 
To these obstacles must be added 
the obstinacy of the soldiers, who 
fight to the very last, disputing every 
inch of ground so well, as often to 
drive away the negroes who are 
without shoes, and make white 
people bleed  plentifully through 
their stockings. Neither can we leta 
buildingstand so as togeta view of the 
interior parts without interruption, 
for while the soldiers are defending 
the outworks, the labourers keep 
barricadoing all the way against us, 
stopping up the different galleries and 
passages which lead to the various 
apartments, particularly the royal 
chamber, all the entrances to which 
they fill up so artfully, as not to let 
it be distinguishable while it remains 
moist ;. and externally it has no 
other appearance than that of a 
shapeless lump of clay. It is, how. 
ever, easily found, from its situation 
with respect to the other parts of the 
building, and by the crowds of la- 
bourers and soldiers which surround 
it, who shew their loyalty and fide- 
lity by dying under its walls, The 
royal chamber, in a large nest, is 
capacious enough to hold many 
nundreds 
