First Attempts at Observation 



They have told me all that they were able 

 to tell me in conditions so favourable to 

 me and so bad for themselves. 



To return to the large apparatus, where 

 the work is proceeding correctly. The bor- 

 ing, begun in March, finishes by the middle 

 of April. From this time onward, my daily 

 visits no longer show me on the top of the 

 mound a plug of fresh earth, marking a re- 

 cent ejection of rubbish. 



It must therefore take two or three weeks 

 at least to excavate the dwelling. My ob- 

 servations in the open even lead me to think 

 that a month or longer is not excessive. My 

 two captives, disturbed in the midst of their 

 earlier labours and pressed for time by the 

 lateness of the season, cut short this work, 

 which for that matter they were unable to 

 continue when the cork stopper appeared at 

 the bottom of the tube as an insuperable ob- 

 stacle. The others, working in freedom, 

 have an unlimited depth of sand at their dis- 

 posal. They have plenty of leisure, if they 

 start work in good time. Even before the 

 end of February we see plenty of mounds. 

 Later, these will mark the sites of shafts 

 four or five feet deep. Such pits as these 

 require a full month's labour, if not more. 



