GANGETIC HINDOOSTAN. 



he fays, are equal in fize to foxes, and that they are the dif- 

 coverers of the gold in the fandy deferts of Regijlan. Strabo, 

 lib. XV. p. T032, relates the fame from Megajihenes, both with 

 equal truth, yet neither one or the other want foundation for 

 their tale. In thefe we difcover the Termes Fatale^ or White 

 Ants, fo frequent in the torrid zone; of which, and of their 

 various operations in forming their habitations, the late Mr. 

 Smeatbman has given a moft curious hiftory in our Philofophical 

 Tranfadions, and a moft credible one, for he confines their fize 

 to that of our common ant. The antients make the hillocks 

 no larger than thofe of moles. My deceafed friend, with great 

 truth affirmed, that fome rife to the height of ten or twelve feet, 

 in which he is fupported by every veracious traveller of the 

 prefent age. 



The infecSl tribe are full of beauty, and full of miracle, but 

 their multitudes deter me from making the attempt to detail 

 the numerous tribes ; like the feathered tribe, they increafe in. - 

 beauty in the torrid zone. The fun exalts their colors, and the 

 vegetables allotted for their food, gives them a magnitude un- 

 known in milder climates. I muft not negledl the moft ufeful, 

 the induftrious bee; whether it is the fame with the European Bees. 

 1 cannot refolve, but its produ6ls are the fame. Honey and 

 wax were in old times mHindooJlan articles of commerce: they 

 are not, as I am informed, hived ; they form their combs in 

 trees, pendent from the boughs, and are feen in multitudes 

 travelling on the furface to and from their cells. They are 

 killed by the fmoke of fires made beneath. 



In India are two fpecies of moths, the Cocoon of which may Moths, 



N n 2 be 



27s 



