xxm TERMITES (WHITE ANTS) 331 
termites play a useful part in tropical forests, as they 
keep it clear of dead trees and branches. As soon as 
the sap ceases to flow through a tree the termites 
attack and quickly reduce it to powder. All would be 
well if these active insects confined their attention to 
dead or dying trees in a forest, but they eat leather as 
well as wood, and in countries where these destructive 
pests abound, the traveller must look to his impedi¬ 
menta, for they eat the wooden store boxes, leather 
cases, saddles, boots and similar things in a very short 
time. The only things which will resist the termite are 
those made of metal or teak. 
There are many stories in vogue of houses and stores 
tumbling down on account of termites destroying 
the supporting beams. Many years ago a British 
man-of-war on the Chinese Station had the fittings 
of her barbettes mounted on thick wooden bases. 
In due course the day of gun practice arrived, and 
on attempting to work the guns it was found that 
the barbettes had sunk twelve inches. Inspection of 
the foundations of the barbettes revealed the fact that 
they had been eaten by termites. The destruction 
they cause in European communities in tropical 
countries is as great as that produced by rats in 
England. 
A. J. Hayes found termites especially numerous 
around Gallabat, on the Blue Nile, and mentions 
that these insects are not numerous at a distance 
from water, and cannot work without moisture to 
renew the fluid that exudes from their mandibles, and 
which enters into the composition of the material of 
which they build their dwellings. The ant hills from 
nine to twelve feet in height were usually built close 
to a soft-wooded tree ; the roots of this tree had been 
attacked by the termites and converted into earth. 
The tree is the victim of a gale of wind, and lying on 
the ground it is soon converted into red compost by 
these indefatigable workers. In the dry months they 
