LETTER XIV. 



HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 



IN forming an estimate of the civilization and intellec- 

 tual progress of a newly discovered people, we usually 

 pay attention to their buildings, and other proofs of 

 architectural skill. If we find them, like the wretched 

 inhabitants of Van Diemen's Land, without other abodes 

 than natural caverns or miserable penthouses of bark, 

 we at once regard them as the most ignorant and un- 

 humanized of their race. If, like the natives of the 

 South Sea Isles, they have advanced a step further, and 

 enjoy houses formed of timber, 'thatched with leaves, 

 and furnished with utensils of different kinds, we are 

 inclined to place them considerably higher in the scale. 

 When, as in the case of ancient Mexico, we discover a 

 nation inhabiting towns containing stone houses, regu- 

 larly disposed into streets, we do not hesitate without 

 other inquiry to decide that it must have been civilized 

 in no ordinary degree. And if it were to chance that 

 some future Park in Africa should stumble upon the 

 ruins of a large city, where, in addition to these proofs 

 of science, every building was constructed on just geo- 

 metrical and architectural principles ; where the ma- 

 terials were so employed as to unite strength with light- 

 ness, and a confined site so artfully occupied as to obtain 



