NE vrop terA . . 4 1 t 



All the species of termites are miners, but the greater number are 

 ilso architects and masons. A few make their nests round a branch 

 Df a tree. This nest is of enormous dimensions : it is as large as a 

 ;un. The illustration (Plate X.) — after a drawing in Smeathman's 

 work — shows a nest of the Terfms beiHcosm, composed of bits of 

 wood firmly stuck together with gum. Above their subterranean 

 galleries the greater part of termites construct vast edifices, which 

 contain their magazines and nurseries. The Termes nwrdax and 

 lermes atrox raise perfect columns, surmounted by capitals which 

 project beyond them and give them the appearance of monstrous 

 mushrooms. These columns attain a height of twenty inches, with a 

 diameter of five ; they are constructed with a black clay, which, 

 worked up by the insects, acquires great hardness. The interior 

 is hollow, or rather perforated with irregular cells ; but the most 

 curious edifices are those of Termes beliieosus. These are irregularly 

 conical moimds, flanked by a certain number of turrets, decreasing 

 in height. Smeathman gives them a height of from ten to twelve 

 feet; but Jobson^' afiirms that he has seen some as high as twenty 

 feet. If men constructed monuments so disproportionate to their 

 size, the great pyramid of Gizeh, instead of being 146 metres 

 in height, would be 1,600, and would be higher than the Puy- de- 

 Dome ! 



These knolls of earth are of a solidity which will bear any trial. 

 Not only can many men mount on them without shaking them, but 

 buffaloes establish themselves upon them as watch-towers, from which 

 they can see over the high grass which covers the plain, if the lion or 

 the panther is threatening them. These edifices are hollow ; but 

 their sides are from fifteen to twenty inches thick, and are as hard as 

 a rock. They are hollowed out into galleries, which connect them 

 with the underground dwelling. Under the dome is a pretty large 

 vacant space, a sort of top storey or attic, occupying one-third of the 

 total height, which keeps up in the edifice a more uniform tem- 

 perature than if all the block had been filled up. On a level with 

 the ground is the royal cell, oblong, with a flat floor and a rounded 

 ceiling, and pierced with round windows. All round are distributed 

 the offices ; they are rooms also with rounded and vaulted ceilings, 

 communicating with each other by corridors. On the sides rise the 

 magazines, with their backs placed against the walls of the house ; 

 they are filled with gums and with vegetable juices solidified and in 

 powder. On the ceiling of the royal chamber rise pillars of about 



* "History of Gambia." 



