the Termites of Africa and other hot Climates . 159 
the talk, and muft therefore refer to the different figures, 
which, however extraordinary, fcarce do juftice to the fubjedls. 
The nefts before defcribed are fo remarkable on account of 
their fize,, that travellers have feldom, where they were to be 
feen, taken notice of any other ; and have generally, when 
1 peaking of white Ants, defcribed them as inhabitants of thofe 
hills. Thofe, however, which are built by the fmaller fpecies 
of thofe infefts, are very numerous, and fome of them exceeds 
ingly worth our attention ,; one fort in particular, which from 
their form I have named turret nefts. Thefe are a great deal 
lefs than the foregoing, and indeed much lefs in proportion to 
the fize of the builders ; but their external form is more 
curious, and their folidity confidered they are prodigious 
buildings for fo final! an animal to) a . 
Thefe buildings are upright cylinders compofed of a well-- 
tempered . black . earth- or clay, about three quarters of a yard 
high, and covered with a roof of the fame material in the 
Ihape of a cone, whofe bafe extends over and hangs dowra 
three or four inches wider than the perpendicular fides of the 
cylinder, fo that moft of them referable in fhape the body 
of a round wind-mill ; but fome of the roofs have fo little ele- 
vation in the middle, that they, are pretty much in the fhape 
of the top of a full-grown mufhroom (tab. IX. fig. 1.) 
After one of thefe turrets is finifhed, it is not altered or en- 
larged ; but when no longer capable of containing the commu- 
nity* the foundation of another is laid within a. few inches of 
it. Sometimes,, though but rarely, the fecond is begun before ~ 
the firft is, finifhed, and a third before they have completed 
to) If their height is eftimated and computed by the fize of the builders, and 
compared with ours upon the like fcale ; each of them is four or five times the 
height of the monument, and a great many times its folid contents. 
fecond; 
