THE WHITE ANTS. 



tition or continuance, so the uniformity with which this business 

 is carried on, though so very wonderful, at last satiates the mind. 

 A renewal of the attack, however, instantly changes the scene, 

 and gratifies our curiosity still more. At every stroke we hear a 

 loud hiss ; and on the first the labourers run into the many pipes 

 and galleries with which the building is perforated, which they 

 do so quickly that they seem to vanish, for in a few seconds all 

 are gone, and the soldiers rush out as numerous and as vindictive 

 as before. On finding no enemy they return again leisurely into 

 the hill, and very soon after the labourers appear loaded as at 

 first, as active and as sedulous, with soldiers here and there 

 among them, who act just in the same manner, one or other of 

 them giving the signal to hasten the business. Thus the pleasure 

 of seeing them come out to fight or to work alternately may be 

 obtained as often as curiosity excites or time permits ; and it 

 will certainly be found, that the one order never attempts to 

 fight, or the other to work, let the emergency be ever so great. 



69. We meet vast obstacles in examining the interior parts of 

 these tumuli. In the first place the works, for instance, the 

 apartments which surround the royal chamber and the nurseries, 

 and indeed the whole internal fabric, are moist, and consequently 

 the clay is very brittle ; they have also so close a connection , that 

 they can only be seen as it were by piecemeal ; for having a 

 kind of geometrical dependence or abutment against each other, 

 the breaking of one arch pulls down two or three. To these 

 obstacles must be added the obstinacy of the soldiers, who fight 

 to the very last, disputing every inch of ground so well as often 

 to drive away the negroes who are without shoes, and make 

 white people bleed plentifully through their stockings. Neither 

 can we let a building stand, so as to get a view of the interior 

 parts without interruption, for while the soldiers are defending 

 the outworks, the labourers keep barricading all the way against 

 us, stopping up the different galleries and passages, which lead 

 to the various apartments, particularly the royal chamber, all 

 the entrances to which they fill up so artfully as not to let it be 

 distinguishable, while it remains moist ; and externally it has 

 no other appearance than that of a shapeless lump of clay. It is, 

 however, easily found from its situation with respect to the other 

 parts of the building, and by the crowds of labourers and soldiers 

 which surround it, who show their loyalty and fidelity by dying 

 under its walls. The royal chamber, in a large nest, is capacious 

 enough to hold many hundreds of the attendants, besides the 

 royal pair, and you always find it as full of them as it can hold. 

 These faithful subjects never abandon their charge, even in the 

 last distress, for whenever Mr. Smeathman took out the royal 

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