CHAPTER X. 



WHITE ANTS 



THIS morning — it was towards the end of Sep- 

 tember — on returning from my ride, I took a 

 stroll through the garden. Half-way down the central 

 path I came on a small mound of earth very much 

 resembling in appearance the crater of a volcano. The 

 mound in shape was circular, about four inches high 

 and eight inches in diameter, and in the centre there 

 was a saucer-like depression ; and in the centre again 

 of this depression there was a small hole. From this 

 hole a number of the minutest red-coloured ants were 

 coming out and returning. Each ant that came out 

 carried in his jaws a grain of sandy earth, deposited 

 it on the top of the mound, and then ran rapidly back 

 again into the hole. 



Although the mound in itself was small, yet, com- 

 pared with the size of the ants, it was gigantic ; and 

 yet it must have all been constructed within the very 

 brief period of two, or at the most two and a half, 

 days. I made sure of this because during the third 

 day previous there had been a heavy fall of rain, and 

 if the mound had then existed the rain would certainly 

 have washed it away. However, not to rely on con- 



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