THE WHITE ANT 331 



uitous, mostly sub-rounded cones of 5 or 10 feet in 

 height, but some mountainous piles of 20 feet and 

 upwards ; others of pyramidal form or sharply pinnacled 

 spires. There are regions as near Lake Baringo 

 where they spring up tall and straight as factory 

 chimneys, and in the Bahr-el-Ghazal there is a form that 

 takes the shape of giant mushrooms. But, big or little, 

 never a white ant is to be seen near them, or taking 

 the slightest interest in his reputed architecture. How 

 is this? He belongs to what I called while blindly 

 groping about for an answer to that question "The 

 Unseen World" (On Safari, p. 258). While white ants 

 obviously exist around one in untold myriads, how comes 

 it that one never sees a single individual? An answer 

 to the question unfolded quite by chance. Being held-up 

 in camp by a "touch of fever," I was constrained during 

 several days involuntarily to study the modus operandi of 

 the termite. First a very gentle movement at the foot of 

 the tent-pole caught my eye. For a while I gave the 

 trifle no thought till its very continuity aroused interest. 

 Then gradually the details of a methodical plan of 

 campaign developed. Grain by grain, an army of 

 termites were carrying up the subsoil from below and 

 plastering it on the tent-pole. Each allotted burden, 

 being carried upon the labourer's head, concealed from 

 view the bearer beneath. The separate pellets each 

 appeared to be ascending spontaneously rising of their 

 own volition. But so soon as each had reached its allotted 

 position, there it was deposited and its troubled journey 

 ceased. These pellets (though I did not know that at the 

 time) are already rendered adhesive by a glutinous 

 secretion exuded from the jaws of the builders ; and thus 

 inch by inch the termite constructs a concealing and 

 protective fortification a sort of tunnel as he ascends. 

 During the first day "the tent-pole was encased in a mastic 

 compost to a height of 12 inches good ; and, since work 

 proceeds all night without cessation, by next morning 



