the Termites of Africa and other hot climates* 
-be totally deftroj/'ed as foon as poffible, that the face of -nature 
may be fpeedily adorned with frefh prod udf ions in the bloom of 
fpring or the pride of fummer : fo when trees, and even woods, 
are in part defrayed by tornadoes or fire, it is wonderful to ob« 
ferve, how many agents are employed in haftening the total 
dilfolution of the ref (s) ; but in the hot climates there are none 
fo expert, or who do their bufinefs fo expeditioufly and effectually, 
. as thefe infeCts, who in a few weeks deftroy and carry away the 
bodies of large trees, without leaving a particle behind, thus 
clearing the place for other vegetables, which foon fill up every 
vacancy .; and in places, where two or three years .before there 
has been a populous town, if the inhabitants, as is frequently 
the cafe, have chofen to abandon it, there (hall be a very thick 
wood, and not the veftige of a poft to be feen, unlefs the wood has 
-been of a fpecies which, from its hardnefs, Is called iron wood* 
My general account of the Termites is taken from obferva* 
Cions made on the Hermes belllcofus , to which I was induced by 
the greater facility and certainty with which they could be made. 
The nefts of this fpecies are fo numerous all over the ifiand 
fc of Bananas, and the adjacent continent of Africa, that it is 
Scarce poffible to hand upon any open place, fuck as a rice 
plantation, or other clear fpot, where one of thefe buildings 
is not be feen within fifty paces, and frequently two or three 
are to be feen almoii clofe to each other. In feme parts near Se- 
negal, as mentioned by Monf. ada ns on, their number, mag- 
mitude, and clofenefs of fituation, make them appear like the 
villages of the natives ( 6 h and you have youifelf feen them 
perhaps Hill more numerous, though not fo large, in New 
Holland. Thefe 
(5) See Stilling fleet’s T rafts. 
(6) “ But of all the extraordinary things 1 obferved, nothing {truck me more 
than certain .eminences, which, by their height and regularity, made me take 
U 2 . them 
