Dwellings. 215 



which great care is exercised. There are no parti- 

 tions on this floor, nothing but massive columns of clay- 

 to support the ceiling. These columns are more than 

 a metre in height. It is a gigantic cathedral in which 

 the hliputian architects have displayed considerable 

 art. By means of this immense empty chamber a 

 huge reservoir of air is placed in the very centre of the 

 construction; through the galleries in the external 

 wall it is sufficiently renewed for the purposes of 

 respiration without too great a change in temperature. 



The second storey rests on the first. To this the 

 eggs are brought, and here the larvae go through 

 their evolution. Partitions of clay divide the space 

 into a few large halls {a) ; these are again subdivided, 

 this time not by earth, which is employed throughout 

 the rest of the building, but by materials of a more 

 delicate kind, which are, moreover, very bad con- 

 ductors of heat {b). It is a question, in fact, of 

 maintaining these little chambers at an almost con- 

 stant temperature, favourable for the development of 

 the eggs. The substances utilised for this purpose 

 are fragments of wood and of gum. The Termites 

 glue them together and thus form the walls of these 

 important cells. 



The arrangement of the top storey (d) is also 

 disposed with a view of protecting the young who 

 are the future of the city. It constitutes the attic, 

 situated just beneath the cupola, and contains 

 absolutely nothing ; it simply serves to interpose 

 beneath the summit of the edifice and the storey 

 below a layer of air, which is a bad conductor of heat. 

 The chamber devoted to the young is thus placed 

 between two gaseous layers, a precaution which, 

 combined with the choice of material, places it in the 



