the Termites of Africa and other hot Climates . 157 
Underground there are a great many which lead downward by 
doping defcents three and four feet perpendicular among the 
gravel, from whence the labouring Termites cull the finer parts, 
which, being worked up in their mouths to the confidence of 
mortar, becomes that folid clay or done of which their hills 
and all their buildings, except their nurferies, are compofed. 
Other galleries again afcend and lead out horizontally on i 
every fide, and are carried under ground near to the furface a 
vad didance : for if you dedroy all the neds within one him- • 
dred yards of your houfe, the inhabitants of thofe which ure 
left unmoleded farther off wilh neverthelefs carry on their fub- 
terraneous galleries,' and invade the goods and merchandizes 
contained in it by fap and mine, s and do great mifchief, if you : 
are not very circumfpedt. 
But to return to the cities from ' whence thefe- extraordinary 
expeditions and operations originate, it feems there is* a degree 
of neceffity for the galleries under the hills being thus large, 
being the great thoroughfares for all the labourers and foldiers 
going forth or returning upon any bufinefs whatever, -whether 
fetching clay,: wood, water, orprovifions ; and they are certainly 
well calculated for the,purpofes to which they are applied, by 
thefpiral dope wdiich is given them ; for if they were perpendi- 
cular the labourers would not be able to carry on their building 
with fo much facility, as they afcend a perpendicular with great 
difficulty, and the foldiers can fcarce do it at all. It is on this 
account that fometimes a road like a ledge is made on the per- 
pendicular fide of any part of the building within their hill, 
which is flat on the upper furface, and half an inch wide, 
and afcends gradually like a ftair-cafe, or like thofe roads which 
are cut on the fides of hills and mountains, that would other- 
wife . 
