Further Observations 



It may be asssumed that, if the difficulty 

 of wielding the spade at the bottom of a fun- 

 nel had not exceeded my assistant's patience 

 and flexibility, similar excavations, repeated 

 throughout the proper season, would have 

 added to the number of cells served by the 

 same shaft. How many are there altogether? 

 Four or five or six? I do not know exactly. 

 A moderate number, in any case. And this 

 is bound to be so. The hoarders of food 

 for the family are not excessively fruitful. 

 They have no time to bequeath supplies to a 

 numerous brood. 



The rearing-apparatus in the bamboo tri- 

 pod has a surprise in store for me. I in- 

 spect it after the father's departure and de- 

 cease. There is certainly a column of pro- 

 visions similar to that which I dig up in the 

 fields; but these provisions are not accom- 

 panied by an egg, either at the base or else- 

 where. The table is served and the con- 

 sumer is not present. Can it be that the 

 mother is reluctant to populate the incon- 

 venient abode which I force upon her? Ap- 

 parently not, for she would not first have 

 kneaded the long loaf, if that loaf was to 

 have proved useless. When desisting from 

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