364 
little marauders, which were supposed to have consumed the 
silver as well as the wood. After some years the house requir- 
ing repair, the whole sum was found several feet deep in the 
earth; and the termites were rescued from that obloquy which 
the supposed power of feasting on precious metals had cast on 
their whole race ! The captain does not give this story on his own 
authority; but adds, “ the cunning of the white ants is truly admi- 
rable. They ordinarily work within plastering, occasionally ap- 
pearing externally, and forming a shelter, by means of earth; 
which though taken from situations apparently dry as powder, 
when worked up, is perfectly moist. Whence they derive the 
moisture is not yet known. In this manner they construct a kind 
of tunnel, or arched passage, sufficient to admit passing each other 
in their way up and down, with surprizing rapidity. Hence they 
not only arrive unseen, though their ways are obvious, at any part 
of a house; but, when from finding such articles as they might else 
attack, insulated by means of frames, of which the feet are placed 
in vessels full of water, they have been known to ascend to the 
upper flooring, and thence to work downwards in filaments, like 
the ramifications of the roots of a tree; and thus descend to their ob- 
ject. In fact it is scarcely possible to prevent them from injuring 
whatever they take a fancy tod’ 
When a bear finds a nest of any kind of ants, but espe- 
cially while ants, he demolishes the whole burrow: licking up 
ail the clusters he can get at; and lying with his tongue out, 
to entice the prey into his mouth: by this means he often ob- 
tains an ample meal; for a bushel of them may frequently be 
