364 THE PHILOSOPHY 



We fhall now endeavour to give fome idea of the almoft incre- 

 dible architedture and oeconomy of thefe wonderful infeds. 



The nefts of the termites hellicoft, or wood-lice, are called hills by 

 the natives of Africa, New Holland, and other hot climates. This 

 appellation is highly proper ; for they are often elevated ten or 

 twelve feet above the furface of the earth, and are nearly of a coni- 

 cal figure. Thefe hills, inftead of being rare phenomena, are fo 

 frequent in many places near Senegal, that, as defcribed with great 

 propriety by Monf. Adanfon, their number, magnitude, and clofe- 

 nefs of fituation, make them appear like villages of the Negroes. 

 ' But, of all the extraordinary things I obferved,' fays Monf. Adan- 

 fon, ' nothing ftruck me more than certain eminences, which, by 



• their height and regularity, made me take them, at a diftance, for 

 ' an afferablage of Negroe huts, or a confiderable village, and yet 

 ' they were only the nefts of certain infeds. Thefe nefts are round 



* pyramids, from eight to ten feet high, upon nearly the fame bafe, 



* with a fmooth furface of rich, clay, exceffively hard and well built *.' 

 Jobfon, in his hiftory of Gambia, tells us, that ' the ant-hills are 

 ' remarkable caft up in thofe parts by pifmires, fome of them twen- 



* ty foot in height, of compafTe to contayne a dozen of men, with 



• the heat of the fun baked into that hardnefle, that we ufed to hide 



• ourfelves in the ragged toppes of them, when we took up ftands 

 ' to fhoot at deere or wild beafls t-' Mr Bofman remarks, in his 

 defcription of Guinea, that ' the ants make nefts of the earth abotrt 

 ' twice the height of a man J.' 



Each 



* Adanfon's Voyage to Senegal, 8vo, pag. 153. — 337. Voyage de Senegal, 410, 

 P»g- 83— 99- 



f Purchas's Pilgrams, vol. 2. pag. 1570. 



\ Page 276.-493. 



