White Ants. 323 



astonishing size, being wider than the bore of a great cannon. 

 One that Mr. Snieathman measured was perfectly cylindrical, 

 and thirteen inches in diameter. These subterraneous pas- 

 sages, or galleries, are lined very thick with the same kind 

 of clay of which the hill is composed, and ascend the inside 

 of the outward shell in a spiral manner ; and winding round 

 the whole building up to the top, intersect each other at 

 different heights, opening either immediately in the dome in 

 various places, and into the interior building, the new turrets, 

 &c., or communicating with them by other galleries of different 

 diameters, either circular or oval. 



From every part of these large galleries are various small 

 covert ways, or galleries leading to different parts of the 

 building. Under ground there are a great many that lead 

 downward by sloping descents, three and four feet perpendi- 

 cular among the gravel, whence the workers cull the finer 

 parts, which, being kneaded up in their mouths to the con- 

 sistence of mortar, become that solid clay or stone of which 

 their hills and all their buildings, except their nurseries, are 

 composed. Other galleries again ascend, and lead out hori- 

 zontally on every side, and are carried under ground near to 

 the surface a vast distance : for if all the nests are destroyed 

 within a hundred yards of a house, the inhabitants of those 

 which are left unmolested farther off will still carry on their 

 subterraneous galleries, and, invading it by sap and mine, do 

 great mischief to the goods and merchandise contained in it. 



It seems there is a degree of necessity for the galleries 

 under the hills being thus large, since they are the great 

 thoroughfares for all the labourers and soldiers going forth 

 or returning, whether fetching clay, wood, water, or pro- 

 visions ; and they are certainly well calculated for the 

 purposes to which they are applied by the spiral slope which 

 is given them ; for if they were perpendicular the labourers 

 would not be able to carry on their building with so much 

 facility, as they ascend a perpendicular with great difficulty, 

 and the soldiers can scarcely do it at all. It is on this 

 account that sometimes a road like a ledge is made on the 

 perpendicular side of any part of the building within their 



