WARS OF THE TERMITES— THEIR ENEMIES. 



605 



the breach, each carrying in his mouth a load of tempered mortar half as big as him- 

 self, which he lays on the edge of the orifice, and immediately hastens back for more. 

 Not the space of the tenth part of an inch is left without laborers working upon it at 

 the same moment ; crowds are constantly hurrying to and fro ; yet, amid all this activ- 

 ity, the greatest order reigns — no one impedes the other, but each seems to thread the 

 mazes of the multitude without trouble or inconvenience. By the united labors of 

 such an infinite host the ruined wall soon rises again ; and Mr. Smeathman has ascer- 

 tained that in a single night they will restore a gallery of three or four yards in length. 



In numbers and architectural industry the American Termites are not inferior to 

 those of the old world. In the savannas of Guiana their sugar-loaf or mushroom- 

 shaped, pyramidal or columnar hills are everywhere to be seen, impenetrable to the 

 rain, and strong enough to resist even a tropical tornado. In many parts of the Bra- 

 zilian campos or savannas the termite-hills, which are there generally of a more flat- 

 tened form, are so numerous that one is almost sure to meet with one of them at the 

 distance of every ten or twenty paces. The great ant bear digs deep holes into their 

 sides, where afterwards small owls build their nests. Similar termite structures, of a 

 dark-brown color, and a round form, are attached to the thick branches of the trees, 

 and you will scarcely meet with a single specimen of the tall candelabra-formed cac- 

 tuses (Cerei), so common on those high grass-plains, that is not loaded with their 

 weight. 



In spite of their working in the dark, in spite of their subterranean tunnels, their 

 strongholds, and the fecundity of their queens, the termites, even when their swarms 

 do not expose themselves to the dangers already mentioned, are subject to the attacks 

 of innumerable foes. One of their most ferocious enemies is a species of black ant, 

 which, on the principle of setting one thief to catch another, is used by the negroes 

 of Mauritius for their destruction. When they perceive that the covered ways of the 

 termites are approaching a building, they drop a train of syrup as far as the nearest 

 encampment of the hostile army. Some of the black ants, attracted by the smell and 

 taste of their favorite food, follow its traces and soon find out the termite habitations. 

 Immediately part of them return to announce the welcome intelligence, and after a few 

 hours a black army, in endless columns, is seen to advance against the white-ant strong- 

 hold. With irresistible fury (for the poor termites are no match for their poisonous 

 sting and mighty mandibles), they rush into the galleries, and only retreat after the 

 extirpation of the colony. Mr. Baxter once saw an army of black ants returning 

 from one of these expeditions. Each little warrior bore a slaughtered termite in his 

 mandibles, rejoicing no doubt in the prospect of a comfortable meal, or a quiet dinner- 

 party at home. Even man is a great consumer of termites, and they are esteemed a 

 delicacy by negroes and Indians, both in the old and in the new world. 



In some parts of the East Indies the natives have an ingenious way of emptying 

 a termite hill, by making two holes in it, one to the windward and the other to the 

 leeward, placing at the latter opening a pot rubbed with an aromatic herb to receive 

 the insects, when driven out of their nest by a fire of stinking materials made at the 

 former breach. Thus they catch great quantities, of which they make, with flour, a 

 variety of pastry. In South Africa the general way of catching them is to dig into 

 the ant-hill, and when the builders come forth to repair the damage, to brush them off 

 quickly into the vessel, as the ant-eater does into his mouth. They are then parched 



