VOL. LXXI.j PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. JQ 



falls in small fragments at yonr 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. These excavated trees deceived Mr. S. some times in running : 

 for, attempting to step 2 or 3 feet high, he might as well have attempted to step 

 upon a cloud, and has come down with such unexpected violence, that, besides 

 shaking his teeth and bones almost to dislocation, he has been precipitated, head 

 foremost, among the neighbouring trees and bushes. Sometimes, though 

 seldom, the animals are known to attack living trees ; though probably not be- 

 fore 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 on the ground a long 

 time in safety ; for the odds are, that 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 en- 

 cumbered 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 2 or 3 

 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. 



The first object of admiration which strikes one, on opening their hills, is the 

 behaviour of the 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 try 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 fol- 

 lowed by 2 or 3 others, who run as fast as- they can, straggling after each other, 

 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 person 

 continues battering their building.* It is not easy to describe the rage and fury 



* " They throw up little hills of 7 or 8 feet high, so very full of holes that they rather seem like 

 honey-combs than burrows. These ant-hills are of a very small circumference in proportion to their 

 height, being sharp at top, so that to judge by the looks of them one would think die wind could 

 blow them down. I one day attempted to knock oft" the top of one of them with my cane, but the 

 stroke had no other effect than to bring some thousands of the animals out of doors, to learn what was 

 the matter •. on which I took to my heels and ran away as fast as I could." Smith's Voyage to 

 Guinea.— Orig. 



