288 
RAVAGES OF THE TERMITES. 
this subject too much in detail, were it not connected wi’h 
general physiological views. Our imagination is struck 
only by what is great ; but the lover of natural philosophy 
should reflect equally on little things. We have just seen 
that winged insects, collected in society, and concealing' in 
their sucker a liquid that irritates the skin, are capable ot 
rendering vast countries almost uninhabitable. Other insects 
equally small, the termites (coraejeu),* create obstacles to 
the progress of civilization, in several hot and' temperate 
parts of the equinoctial zone, that are difficult to be but* 
mounted. They devour paper, pasteboard, and parchment 
.with frightful rapidity, utterly destroying records and libra- 
ries. Whole provinces of Spanish America do not possess 
one written document that dates a hundred years back- 
What improvement can the civilization of nations acquire n 
nothing link the present with the past ; if the depositaries 
of human knowledge must be repeatedly renewed ; if the 
records of genius and reason cannot bo transmitted to 
posterity ? 
In proportion as you ascend the table-land of the Andes 
these evils disappear. Man breathes a fresh and pure air- 
Insects no more disturb the labours of the day or the 
slumbers of the night. Documents can he collected uj, 
archives without our having to complain of the voracity °j 
the termites. Mosquitos are no longer feared at a heigh" 
■cf two hundred toises ; and the termites, still very frequent 
at three hundred toises of elevation,* become very rare a* 
Mexico, Santa Fe de Bogota, and Quito. In these great’ 
capitals, situated on the back of the Cordilleras, we fin a 
libraries and archives, augmented from day to day by th® 
enlightened zeal of the inhabitants. These circumstanced 
combined with others, insure a moral preponderance to tb® 
Alpine region over the lower regions of the torrid zone, 
we admit, agreeably to the ancient traditions collected 111 
both the old and new worlds, that at the time of the cat» s ' 
trophe which preceded the renewal of our species, m aI1 
descended from the mountains into the plains, we i Tlfl - v 
admit, with still greater confidence, that these mountain 6 ' 
* Literally, ‘ the eaters,’ or * the devourers.’ 
+ There are some at Popayan (height 910 toises ; mean temper 
18*7*), but they are species that gnaw wood only. 
atui* e 
