WHITE ANTS. 
509 
the whole fabric, are moist, and consequently the 
clay is very brittle ; they have also so close a con- 
nexion, that they can only be seen as it were by 
piece-meal ; for, having a kind of geometrical de- 
pendence or abutment against each other, the 
breaking of one arch pulls down two or three. Xo 
these obstacles must be added the obstinacy of the 
soldiers, who fight to the very last, disputing every 
inch of ground so well, as often to drive away the 
negroes who are without shoes, and make white 
people bleed plentifully through their stockings. 
Neither can we let a building stand so as to get a 
view of the interior parts without interruption; for, 
while the soldiers are defending the out-works, the 
labourers keep barricading all the way against us, 
stopping up the different galleries and passages 
which lead to the various apartments ; particularly 
the royal chamber, all the entrances to which they 
fill up so artfully as not to let it be distinguishable 
while it remains moist ; and externally it has no 
other appearance than that of a shapeless lump of 
clav. It is however easily found, from its situation 
with respect to the other parts of the building, and 
by the crowds of labourers and soldiers which sur- 
round it, who show their loyalty and fidelity by 
dying under its walls. The royal chamber, in a 
large nest, is capacious enough to hold many hun- 
dreds of the attendants, besides the royal pair, and 
you always find it as full of them as it can hold'. 
These faithful subjects never abandon their charge 
even in the last distress ; for, whenever I took out 
