i B 4 Mr, smeathman’s Ac:ouni of 
fury they {hew. In their hurry they frequently mifs their 
hold, and fumble down the Tides of the hill, but recover them- 
felvcs as quickly as poffible ; and, being blind, bite every 
thing they run againft, and thus- make a crackling noife, while 
ibmemf them beat repeatedly with their forceps upon the build- 
ing, and make a {mail vibrating noife, fomething Thriller and 
quicker than the ticking of a watch : I could diftinguifh this 
noife at three or four feet diftance, and it continued fora minute 
at a time, with fhort intervals. While the attack proceeds they 
are in the mod; violent buttle and agitation. If they get hold of 
any one, they will in an infant let out blood enough to weigh 
again ft their whole body ; and if it is the leg they wound, you 
will tee the ftain upon the flocking extend an inch in width. 
They make their hooked jaws meet at the firft ftroke, and never 
quit their hold, butfuffer themfeives to be pulled away leg by 
leg, and piece after piece,, without the leaft attempt to efcape. 
On the other hand, keep out of their way, and give them no 
interruption, and they will in Ids than half an hour retire into 
the neft, as if they fuppofed the wonderful monfter that da- 
maged their ..caftle to be gone beyond their reach. Before they are 
all got in you will fee the labourers in motion, and haftening 
in various directions toward the breach : every one with 
a burthen of mortar in his month ready tempered. This they 
flick upon the breach as faft as they come up, and do it with 
fc much difpatch and facility, that although there are thou- 
lands, and 1 may fay millions, of them, they never ftop or 
“ down. I one day attempted to knock off the top of one of them with my cane, 
.but the ftroke had no other effeft than to bring fome thoufa.nds of the animals 
li iOnt of doors, to fee what was the matter > upon which I took to . my heels .and 
ran away as fail as I could.” smith’s Voyage to Guinea, 
em.bar.rafs 
