d perforated
for that use. This root is commonly as big as a large turnip, and
sometimes much bigger: When we cut it, we found it intersected by
innumerable winding passages, all filled with these animals, by which,
however, the vegetation of the plant did not appear to have suffered any
injury. We never cut one of these roots that was not inhabited, though
some were not bigger than a hazle nut. The animals themselves are very
small, not more than half as big as the common red ant in England. They
had stings, but scarcely force enough to make them felt: They had,
however, a power of tormenting us in an equal, if not a greater degree;
for the moment we handled the root, they swarmed from innumerable holes,
and running about those parts of the body that were uncovered, produced
a titillation more intolerable than pain, except it is increased to
great violence. Rumphius has also given an account of this bulb and its
inhabitants, vol. vi. p. 120, where he mentions another sort that are
black.

We found a fourth kind, which are perfectly harmless, and almost exactly
resemble the white ants of the East Indies: The architecture of these is
still more curious than that of the others. They have houses of two
sorts; one is suspended on the branches of trees, and the other erected
upon the ground: Those upon the trees are about three or four times as
big as a man's head, and are built of a brittle substance, which seems
to consist of small part of vegetables kneaded together with a glutinous
matter, which their bodies probably supply. Upon breaking this crust,
innumerable cells, swarming with inhabitants, appear in a great variety
of winding directions, all communicating with each other, and with
several apertures that lead to other nests upon the same tree; they have
also one large avenue, of covered way, leading to the ground, and
carried on under it to the other nest or house that is constructed
there. This house is generally at the root of a tree, but not of that
upon which their other dwellings are constructed: It is formed like an
irregularly sided cone, and sometimes is more than six feet high, and
nearly as much in diameter. Some are smaller, and these are generally
flat-sided, and very much resemble in figure the stones which are seen
in many parts of England, and supposed to be the remains of druidical
antiquity. The outside of these is of well-tempered clay, about two
inches thick; and within are the cells, which have n