THE COASTS OF SAINTONGE. 329 



latter must be about a thousand times higher than 

 the height of the insects which constructed them. 

 Thus, if we take all the different proportions into 

 account, we find that these edifices of the Termites 

 are relatively eleven times higher than the loftiest 

 of our monuments. In order to reach to an equal 

 height, the great pyramid must be elevated more than 

 a mile above the ground, which would give a height 

 superior to that of the Puy de Dome. 



These artificial hills possess a degree of solidity 

 that is proof against most attacks. While they are 

 still in the course of construction, and when their 

 rounded domes are accessible to the wild bulls, these 

 animals may often be observed standing on their 

 summits as sentinels to the rest of the herd. 

 Smeathman, Jobson, and other travellers, were in 

 the habit of climbing up to the top of these hillocks 

 in order to obtain a view of the surrounding country ; 

 or they lay in ambuscade among the turrets of these 

 edifices in order " to shoot at deere or wild beasts," 

 and yet these columns and hillocks are entirely 

 hollow. Situated in the centre of the ground 

 worked by each colony, these edifices may be said 

 to constitute the capital of the community ; and like 

 our own large cities they have their public streets 

 and squares, through which a numerous population 

 is seen passing to and fro ; their magazines always 

 well filled with provisions ; their foundling hospitals, 

 in which new generations are reared by the care of 

 the community ; and, lastly, the palace of their sove- 

 reigns, who are in truth the actual father and mother 

 of their subjects. 



