954 
hundreds of the attendants, besides 
the royal pair, and you always find 
it as full of them as it can hold. 
These faithful subjects never aban- 
don their charge, even in the last 
distress ; fur, whenever I took out 
the royal chamber, and, as I often 
did, preserved it for some time in a 
large glass bowl, all the attendants 
continued running in one direction 
round the king and queen, with the 
utmost solicitude, some of ‘them 
stopping on every circuit at the head 
of the latter, as if to give her some- 
thing. When they came to the ex- 
tremity of the abdomen, they took: 
the egys from her, and carried them 
‘away, and piled them carefully ‘o- 
gether in some part of the chamber, 
or in the bowl under, or behind any 
pieces of broken c ay which lay most 
convenient for the purpose. 
Some of these little unbappy crea- 
tures would ramble from the cham- 
ber, as if to explore the cause of 
such a horrid ruin and catastrophe 
to their immense building, as it must 
appear to them; and,*after fruitless 
endeavours to get over the side of 
the bowl, return and mix with the 
crowd that continue running round 
their common parents to the last. 
Others, placing themselves along her 
side, get hold of the queen’s vast 
matrix with their jaws, and pull 
with all their strength, so as visibly 
to lift up the part which they fix at; 
but, as I never saw any effect from 
these attempts, I never cou'd deter- 
mine whether this pulling was with 
an intention to remove her body, or 
to stimulate her to move herself, or 
for any other purpose; but, alter 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 
case, because he is very small in 
1806. 
many ineffectual tugs, they would _ 
desist, and joinin the crowd runnin 
reund, or assist some of those who 
are cutting off clay from the external 
parts of the chamber, or some of the 
fragments, and moistening it with | 
the juices of their bodies, to begin (o 
work a thin arched shell over the 
body of the queen, as if to exciude — 
the air, or to hide her from the ob- 
servation of some enemy. These, if! 
not interrupted, before the next 
morning. completely cover her, 
leaving room enough within for great 
numbers to ran about her. * 
Ido not mention the king in this 
proportion to the queen, not being 
bigver than thirty of the labourers, 
s» that be generally conceals himself 
under one side of the abdomen, ex 
cept when he goes up to the queen’s 
head, which be does now and then, 
but not so frequently as the rest. 
Tiin your attack onthe hill you stop 
short of the royal chamber, and cut 
down about half of tbe’ building, and 
leave open some thousands of galle- 
ries and chambers, they will all 
be shut up with thin sheets of 
clay before the next morning. If 
even the whole is pulled down, and 
the different buildings are thrown 
into a confused heap of ruins, pro- 
vided the king and queen are not 
destroyed or taken away, every in- 
terstice between the ruins, at which 
either cold or wet can possibly ens 
ter, will be so covered as to exclude 
both, and, if the animals are left 
undisturbed, in about a year they’ 
will raise the building to near its 
pristine size and grandeur. 
USEFUL 
