508 
WHITE ANTS. 
verns and passages : that it does eome from the la- 
bourers is very evident, for you will see them all 
hasten at every such signal, redouble their pace, and 
work as fast again. 
As the most interesting experiments become 
dull by repetition or continuance, so the uniformity 
with which this business is carried on, though so 
very wonderful, at last satiates the mind. A re- 
newal of the attack, however, instantly changes the 
scene, and gratifies our curiosity still more. At 
every stroke we hear a loud hiss ; and on the first 
the labourers run into the many pipes and galleries 
with which the building is perforated, which they 
do so quickly that they seem to vanish ; for in a 
few seconds all are gone, and the soldiers rush out 
as numerous and as vindictive as before. On find- 
ing no enemy they return again leisurely into the 
hill, and very soon after the labourers appear loaded 
as at first, as active and as sedulous, with soldiers 
here and there among them, who act just in the 
same manner, one or other of them giving the signal 
to hasten the business. Thus the pleasure of seeing 
them come out to fight or work alternately, may be 
obtained as often as curiosity excites, or time per- 
mits ; and it will certainly be found, that the one 
order never attempts to fight, or the other to work, 
let the emergency be ever so great. 
“ We meet vast obstacles in examining the in- 
terior parts of these tumuli. In the first place the 
works, for instance the apartments which surround 
the royal chamber and the nurseries, and indeed 
