3(J8 HISTORY OF 



III a iine day they remove them with the same care nearer tlie 

 surface, where their maturity may be assisted by the warm 

 beams of the sun. If a formidable enemy should come to batter 

 down their whole habitation, and crush them by thousands in 



ly, that about sixty in a minute, or upwards of eighty thousand in twenty- 

 four hours, are deposited. The eggs are immediateiy tal<eu away by the 

 attendants, and carried to the nurseries : here they are hatched. The young 

 ones are attended and provided with every thing necessary, until they are 

 able to shift for themselves, and take their share in the labours of tlie com. 

 munity. 



The nests, or rather hills of these ants, (for they are often elevated ten or 

 twelve feet above tha surface of the ground,) are nearly of a conical shape ; 

 and sometimes so numerous, as at a little distance to appear like little vil- 

 lages of the Negroes. Jobson, in his history of Gambia, says that some of 

 them are twenty feet high, and that he and his companions have often hid- 

 den themselves behind them, for the purpose of shooting deer and other 

 wild animals. Each hill is composed of an exterior and interior part. The 

 exterior cover is a large clay shell, shaped like a dome, of strength and mag- 

 nitude sufficient to enclose and protect the interior building from the injur, 

 ies of the weather, and to defend its numerous inhabitants from the attacks 

 of natural or accidental enemies. 



The royal chamber is always situated as near the centre of the building as 

 possible, is generally on a level with the surface of the ground, and of an ob- 

 tuse oval shape within. lu the infant state of the colony it is not above an 

 inch in length : but in time it becomes enlarged to six or eight inches, or 

 more. The entrance into the royal chamber not admitting any animal larger 

 than the labourers or soldiers, it follows that the king and queen can never 

 possibly get out. This chamber is surrounded by a hundred of others, of 

 different sizes, figures, and dimensions ; all of them arched either in a cir- 

 cular or an elliptical form. These either open into each other, or have com- 

 municating passages, which being always clear, are evidently intended for 

 the convenience of the soldiers and attendants, of whom great numbers are 

 necessary. The latter apartments are joined by the magazines and nurser. 

 ies. The magazines are chambers of clay, and are at all times well stored 

 with provisions, wliich to the naked eye seem to consist of the raspings of 

 wood and plants, but, when examined by the microscope, they are found to 

 consist chiefly of the gnms or inspissated juices of plants, thrown together 

 in small irregular masses. 



The magazines are always intermixed with the nurseries, buildings to- 

 tally different from the rest of the apartments. These are composed entire- 

 ly of wooden materials, which seem to be cemented with gum. They are 

 invariably occupied by the eggs, and the young ones, which first appear in 

 the shape of labourers. These buildings are exceedingly compact, and are 

 divided into a number of small irregular-shaped chambers, not one of which 

 is half an inch wide. They are placed all around, and as near as possible to 

 the royal apartments. 



When a nest is in an infant state, the nurseries are close to the royal 

 apartment. But as in process of time the body of the queen enlarges, it be- 

 comes necessary, for her accommodation, to augment the dimensions of lier 



