154 



Byj'am a?id Ghopal. 



the upper soil, as you showed me, is made 

 of timber after transformation by the white 

 ants." 



"All good soil,"' said Byram, "is made of 

 animal and vegetable remains, mixed with 

 the sand and clay of the earth. As long as 

 the earth was covered with forest, the white 

 ants and other creatures which prey on dead 

 wood had the most important world's work 

 thrown on their shoulders, but when man 

 cleared away the forest and began to culti- 

 vate the plain, Brahma sent him the earth- 

 worm to help him." 



"Well," said Ghopal, after a short pause, 

 "what does the earthworm do?" 



"In the first place," said Byram, "he eats 

 the grass roots as fast as they decay, and 

 all other animal and vegetable remains, 

 which are buried in the soil, and what is 

 left on the surface he himself buries, so as 

 to make it damp and soft. In the next place 

 he eats the soil itself along with the organic 

 remains. There, look at that little pyramid," 

 continued Byram, directing Ghopal's atten- 

 tion to a worm's casting about three inches 

 high on the side of the road, "pick it up and 

 examine it." 



As Ghopal lifted it a worm rapidly wrig- 

 gled out of it and disappeared in his hole, 

 which was immediately below the casting. 



"Did you ever examine one before?" 

 asked Byram, seeing Ghopal examining it 

 curiously and in silence. 



"Never," said Ghopal, "it is wonderful. 

 Say now, Byram, did a worm make this?" 



"Yes," said Byram, "not only did the 

 worm you saw build this mound, and that 

 within the last ten days, but all that earth 

 has passed through his body in that period, 

 mixed with as much vegetable and animal 

 matter as he wanted for food. All the top 

 soil passes through his stomach, as often as 

 it gets mixed with enough undigested vege- 

 table and animal matter to render it nutri- 

 tious; and as the workers bring their cast- 

 ings to the surface, where they soon get 

 broken down, they are constantly covering 



up every leaf and blade of grass and dead 

 insect that lies on the surface, and thus 

 passing it through that first stage of slow 

 decay which fits it for their digestive or- 

 gans. If a farmer throws a load of half- 

 rotted stable manure and straw on the land, 

 it will take several years to decay, and then 

 want twenty plowings to mix it thor- 

 oughly with the earth, so that every blade 

 of wheat would find equal nutriment; but 

 the worms pass the whole through their 

 stomachs in one season, and mix it far more 

 intimately with the soil than man could do 

 it. But that is not all. The animal and 

 vegetable matters, after passing through the 

 worm's stomach, have a higher value as 

 manure than they had before. Then you 

 must consider, too, the number of worms 

 which die every year and enrich the soil 

 with their own bodies." 



The discussion was continued over the 

 whole journey, and now that Ghopal's atten- 

 tion was directed to the worms' castings, he 

 was astonished at their number, and the 

 enormous importance of the work the worms 

 were engaged in, but what astonished him 

 most of all was that his eyes had so long 

 rested on these castings without seeing 

 them, or dreaming of the changes they 

 wrought in the earth's surface, or the im- 

 portance of the worm's labors to man. 



" By the Holy Brahma," said Ghopal, as 

 they neared the end of their day's journey, 

 "but I begin to think that I, and not only 

 I, but all the men I ever met, are fools. 

 Tell, O Byram, how didst thou learn all 

 these things ? Did Brahma himself instruct 

 thee?" 



" Yes, truly," said Byram, " but not by 

 word of mouth; for man's ear is not attuned 

 to the voice of Brahma that he sh(juld un- 

 derstand him. He gave us eyes to behold 

 his creatures, and as much intelligence as 

 enables me to conclude that everything 

 that Brahma has created is for man's bene- 

 fit, if he had only understanding and in- 

 sight to recognize it. " 



