HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 323 



three of four very large Gothic arches, of which those in the middle of 

 the area are sometimes two and three feet high, but as they recede on each 

 side, rapidly diminish like the arches of aisles in perspective. A flattish 

 roof, imperforated in prder to keep out the wet, if the dome should chance 

 to be injured, covers the top of the assemblage of chambers, nurseries, he. ; 

 and the area, which is a short height above the royal chamber, has a 

 flattish floor, also water-proof, and so contrived as to let any rain that mSy 

 chance to get in run off into the subterranean passages. 



These passages or galleries, which are of an astonishing size, some 

 being above a foot in diameter and perfectly cylindrical, lined with the 

 same kind of clay of which the hill is composed, served originally, like the 

 catacombs in Paris, as the quarries whence the materials of the building 

 were derived, and afterwards as the grand outlets by which the Termites 

 carry on their depredations at a distance from their habitations. They 

 run in a sloping direction under the bottom of the hill to the depth of 

 three or four feet, and then branching out horizontally on every side, 

 are carried under ground, near to the surface, to a vast distance. At 

 their entrance into the interior they communicate with other smaller gal- 

 leries, which ascend the inside of the outer shell in a spiral manner, and, 

 winding round the whole building to the top, intersect each other at 

 different heights, opening either immediately into the dome in various 

 places, and into the lower half of the building, or communicating with 

 every part of it by other smaller circular or oval galleries of different diam- 

 eters. The necessity for the vast size of the main underground galleries 

 evidently arises from the circumstance of their being the great thorough- 

 fares for the inhabitants, by which they fetch their clay, wood, water, or 

 provision ; and their spiral and gradual ascent is requisite for the easy 

 access of the Termites, which cannot but with great difficulty ascend 

 a perpendicular. To avoid this inconvenience, in the interior vertical 

 parts of the building, a flat pathway, half an inch wide, is often made to 

 wind gradually, like a road cut out of the side of a mountain, by which 

 they travel with great facility up ascents otherwise impracticable. The 

 same ingenious propensity to shorten their labor seems to have given 

 birth to a contrivance still more extraordinary. This is a kind of bridge 

 of one vast arch, sprung from the floor of the area to the upper apart- 

 ments at the side of the building, which answers the purpose of a flight 

 of stairs, and must shorten the distance exceedingly in transporting eggs 

 from the royal chambers to the upper nurseries, vt^hich in some hills would 

 be four or five feet in the straightest line, and much more if carried through 

 all the winding passages which lead through the inner chambers and 

 apartments. Mr. Smeathman measured one of these bridges, which was 

 half an inch broad, a quarter of an inch thick, and ten inches long, 

 making the side of an elliptic arch of proportionable size, so that it is won- 

 derful it did not fall over or break by its own weight before they got it 

 joined to the side of the column above. It was strengthened by a small 

 arch at the bottom, and had a hollow or groove all the length of the 

 upper surface, either made purposely for the greater safety of the passen- 

 gers, or else worn by frequent treading. It is not the least surprising cir- 

 cumstance attending this bridge, the Gothic arches before spoken of, and 

 in general all the arches of the various galleries and apartments, that, as 



