THE WHITE ANTS. 



the whole stake, though apparently as thick as your arm, and five 

 or six feet long, loses its form, and, disappearing like a shadow, 

 falls in small fragments at your feet. They generally enter the 

 body of a large tree which has fallen through age, or been thrown 

 down by violence, on the side next the ground, and eat away at 

 their leisure within the bark, without giving themselves the 

 trouble either to cover it on the outside, or to replace the wood 

 which they have removed from within, being somehow sensible 

 that there is no necessity for it. "Such excavated trees," says 

 Mr. Smeathman, " deceived me two or three times in running ; 

 for, attempting to step two or three feet high, I might as well 

 have attempted to step upon a cloud, and have come down with 

 such unexpected violence, that, besides shaking my teeth and 

 bones almost to dislocation, I have been precipitated head fore- 

 most among the neighbouring trees and bushes." Sometimes, 

 though seldom, the animals are known to attack living trees ; but 

 not before symptoms of mortification have appeared at the roots ; 

 since it is evident that these insects are intended in the order of 

 nature to hasten the dissolution of such trees and vegetables as 

 have arrived at their greatest maturity and perfection, and which 

 would, by a tedious decay, serve only to encumber the face of the 

 earth. This purpose they answer so effectually that nothing 

 perishable escapes them, and it is almost impossible to leave any- 

 thing penetrable upon the ground a long time in safety ; for the 

 odds are, put it where you will abroad, they will find it out 

 before the following morning, and its destruction follows very 

 soon of course. In consequence of this disposition, the woods 

 never remain long encumbered with the fallen trunks of trees or 

 their branches ; and thus it is that the total destruction of deserted 

 towns is so effectually completed, that in two or three years a 

 thick wood fills the space ; and, unless iron-wood posts have been 

 made use of, not the least vestige of a house is to be discovered. 



64. The first object of admiration, which strikes one upon 

 opening their hills, is the behaviour of their soldiers. If you 

 make a breach in a slight part of the building, and do it quickly, 

 with a strong hoe or pick-axe, in the space of a few seconds a 

 soldier will run out, and walk about the breach, as if to see 

 whether the enemy is gone, or to examine what is the cause of 

 the attack. He will sometimes go in again, as if to give the 

 alarm ; but most frequently, in a short time, is followed by two 

 or three others, who run as fast as they can, straggling after one 

 another, and are soon followed by a large body, who rush out as 

 fast as the breach will permit them, and so they proceed, the 

 number increasing, as long as any one continues battering their 

 building. It is not easy to describe the rage and fury they show. 

 122 



