bringing small gourd-shells to receive the expected 
corn. The people of this tribe are mere apes, trusting 
entirely to the productions of nature for their subsist¬ 
ence ; they will spend hours in digging out field-mice 
72 WHITE ANT TOWERS. [chap. i. 
the dry season, the white ants carry their hills to so 
great a height (about ten feet), that they can live 
securely in the upper stories during the floods. The 
whole day we are beset by crowds of starving people, 
