THE MOLE. 21 



are bound in packages with strips of rattan, the in- 

 ferior being simply strung together. The best pack- 

 ages generally weigh one catty (one and a third 

 pounds), averaging forty nests, and are sold at nine 

 dollars each, the anmial value of the nests gathered 

 being about twenty-five thousand dollars. These 

 caves have been worked for seven generations with- 

 out any diminution in the quantity. Three crops are 

 taken during the year." 



THE MOLE. 



HOW HE WORKS. 



Air, earth, and water, which in ancient times were 

 called the three elements, each have their proper in- 

 habitants. Of these the air offers the least resistance 

 to progress through it, and the least support to bodies 

 entirely surrounded by it. In consequence of this, 

 birds are the swiftest of animals, but they are obliged 

 at intervals to alight and rest upon something more 

 substantial than the atmosphere through which they 

 fly. Next to the birds, fish swimming in the water 

 move forward with the gi*eatest rapidity, nor do they 

 need any more material support than the fluid in 

 which they live. Men and beasts upon the surface 

 of the ground, and thus not living entirely surrounded 

 by any one element, are slower than birds or fish, but 

 can make more rapid progress than animals that live 

 entirely in the earth, as do moles, mole rats, echidnas, 



