s there are likewise three orders,
which differ very essentially in the functions they have to perform, and
are in appearance very different.

In their primitive state, they are perfectly white; they have six little
feet, three on each side, and a small head, in which I could perceive no
eyes, after a minute investigation with a microscope. In this state they
supply the community with provisions from subterraneous cavities, fabricate
their pyramidical buildings, and may with great propriety be called
labourers.

In a few weeks they destroy the largest trunks of trees, carry away all
descriptions of putrid substances, and particles of vegetable decay, which,
in such a climate as Africa, amply compensates for the ruin which they
otherwise occasion.

Their buildings are contrived and finished with great ingenuity and
solidity, to a magnitude infinitely beyond the erections of man, when a
comparative dimension of size is considered.

They are usually termed hills, and are generally in a conical form, from 10
to 12 feet in perpendicular height, and frequently upwards of 100 feet
square in the base.

For a considerable period, vegetation is banished from the surface of their
abode, but from the second to the third year, it becomes like the
surrounding soil. The exterior forms a crust, which shelters the interior
from the weather, and the community from the attacks of enemies. The
interior is divided into almost innumerable chambers or apartments, with
amazing regularity and contrivance; in the centre of which is the royal
residence of the king and queen, composed of solid clay, closely compacted,
and distinct from the external habitation, which accommodate their
subjects. It appears that the royal erection is the first which occupies
the attention of the labourers, as it is central in the foundation of the
hill which composes the empire at large. This makes its first appearance
above the surface of the earth in various turrets, in the form of a sugar
loaf, from which they increase their number, widening them from the base;
the middle one is the highest and largest, and they fill up the spaces as
they proceed, until the whole is formed into one.

This compact construction is admirably adapted to guard against external
violence, and to preserve a genial warmth and moisture to cherish the
hatching of the eggs, and the young.

The queen is by far the largest, and has an unwieldy body, of enormous
dimensions, when compared