MOUNDS OF THE TERMITES. 233 



ground are immediately seized by the attentive and indefati- 

 gable carriers. 



The use of the leaves is to thatch the domes of their curious 

 edifices, and to prevent the loose earth from falling in. Some 

 of these domes are of great size, measuring two feet in height 

 and forty feet in diameter ; and yet they are still far surpassed 

 in extent by the subterranean galleries which these indus- 

 trious little creatures form, and whose extent may be con- 

 jectured from the fact, that when sulphur-smoke was blown 

 into a nest, one of the outlets was detected at a distance of 

 twenty yards. Division of labour is carried out to a wonderful 

 extent in these buildings, for the labourers which gather 

 and fetch the leaves do not place them, but merely fling them 

 down on the ground, and leave them to a relay of workers, who 

 lay them in their proper order. As soon as they have been 

 arranged, they are covered with little globules of earth, and in 

 a very short time they are quite hidden by their earthy covering 



These structures, however wonderful, are far surpassed by 

 those of the termites. Their cone-shaped or domelike edifices 

 rise to the height of ten, twelve, or even twenty feet, with 

 a corresponding diameter ; and although made merely of clay, 

 which the termites excavate with their mandibles from a con- 

 siderable depth underground, moistening it with tenacious 

 saliva, their strength is such that hunters are accustomed 

 to mount upon them for the purpose of looking out for 

 game ; and even the intense rains of the monsoons, which no 

 cement or mortar can long resist, fail to penetrate their surface. 

 Only the underpart of the mound is inhabited by the white 

 ants, the upper portion serving principally as a defence from 

 the weather, and to keep up in the lower part the warmth and 

 moisture necessary to the hatching of the eggs and the cherish- 

 ing of the young ones. In the centre and almost on a level 

 with the ground is placed the sanctuary of the whole commu- 

 nitythe large cell, where the queen resides with her consort, 

 and which she is doomed never to quit again, after having been 

 once enclosed in it by her faithful subjects, since the portals 

 soon prove too narrow for her rapidly-increasing bulk. En- 

 circling the regal apartment extends a labyrinth of countless 

 chambers and nurseries, all connected by arched galleries, 

 long passages, and doorways of the most intricate and elaborate 



