White Ant Depredations. 169 



to the operations of white ants, become in course 

 of time totally deprived of their wood-work, it does 

 not by any means follow that they have become 

 dangerously weakened in consequence, clay or mud 

 becoming excessively hard and solid by lapse of 

 time, in the warm, dry atmosphere of the tropics. 

 There are certain descriptions of timber which 

 may be considered proof against white ants, such 

 as " black-wood," " kino," " mutty," &c., while others 

 may be in great measure rendered so by saturation 

 with creosote and similar solutions. 



All the posts used for the corners, as well as for 

 the supports of the door and window frames, should 

 either be of one or other of the above descriptions, 

 or at least charred or soaked in some such pre- 

 servative liquid, especially the part to be sunk 

 underground. The uprights for these positions 

 should also be strong, stout, and straight ; they 

 should be planted at least three feet deep in the 

 ground, and in no case should they be more than six 

 feet distant from each other ; indeed, it will be safer 

 to have one such support to every four feet 

 of wall, and they will be none the worse for being 

 of sawn timber, whatever the other timbers may be. 



Weather-boards are too combustible a material to 

 be used with safety in hot climates. 



An excellent building material largely used in 

 Ceylon and Southern India (principally found near 



