ains near her, to give his assistance when
occasion arises; hence he has received the title, absolutely justified
under the circumstances, of Father of the People. Around the couple
zealous attendants crowd. There are about two thousand of them,
workers and soldiers, licking the two royal captives to remove any
dust from their hairs, and bringing them food. As soon as the queen
lays an egg, one of the workers hastens to take it gently between its
jaws; it is the property of the state, and is carefully carried off to
the second storey where the state nursery is situated.

The centre of the ground-floor, therefore, is occupied by the royal
apartment; around this, and communicating with it by means of numerous
entrances, are a number of cells used by the attendants on the queen
(_s_). These little chambers are surrounded by a labyrinth of
passages. The central room and its dependencies constitute a solid
mass, around which other chambers are grouped. The whole space between
it and the general wall is filled by vast storehouses, divided into
many very spacious compartments. Within them are piled up the
provisions which the Termites harvest every day; they consist
especially of gums and the juices of plants, dried and pulverised so
as to form a fine powder. Access to this property is given by means of
large corridors which cross one another, and conduct to the outside
through the horizontal galleries traversing the wall.

Above the whole of this ground-floor rests a thick vault of clay,
which forms a strong floor for the first storey (B). This is composed
of only a single room; it is put to no use, unless to isolate and
support the apartments of the second floor, in the arrangement of
which great care is exercised. There are no partitions on this floor,
nothing but massive columns of clay to support the ceiling. These
columns are more than a metre in height. It is a gigantic cathedral in
which the lilliputian architects have displayed considerable art. By
means of this immense empty chamber a huge reservoir of air is placed
in the very centre of the construction; through the galleries in the
external wall it is sufficiently renewed for the purposes of
respiration without too great a change in temperature.

The second storey rests on the first. To this the eggs are brought,
and here the larvae go through their evolution. Partitions of clay
divide the space into a few large halls (_a_); these are again
subdivided, this time