I do not intend in this place to take up the whole subject of Subterranean Dwellings, but only to point out cases where the use of the Subterranean Dwelling depends on the climate of the locality and the time of year, it being sometimes used and sometimes neglected, sometimes inhabited for the sake of warmth, and sometimes for that of coolness.
In various parts of India there are some most remarkable Subterranean Dwellings. They are more than mere dwellings, and are, in fact, magnificent palaces, sunk so deeply in the earth that very little more than their roofs appear aboveground. When, however, a visitor descends the stairs that lead to the interior of the palace, he finds it spacious, and with tiers of chambers one below the other, very much like the wasp-nest which has already been described. Nussur-ed-deen, the second King of Oude, had several of these palaces, but very seldom visited them, he having endeavoured to Europeanise himself as much as possible, and to cast off his native customs. He used occasionally to visit them, but it was only out of etiquette, and he never really lived in them.
However much he might have rejected the ancient customs, it is evident that in this case, at least, he was punishing himself in rejecting these summer dwellings, which are always cool, and where, if one set of apartments is too warm, nothing is easier than to descend to the next.
This dwelling is made for the sake of coolness in summer. Another subterranean dwelling is made for warmth in winter, the non-conducting properties of the earth being in both cases brought into play. This is the winter dwelling of the inhabitants of Kamschatka.
During the summer-time the Kamschatdales live in comparatively slight huts mounted on poles, and having the floor some ten feet from the ground.
During the winter, however, they live in habitations of a very different character.
In order to make these houses, they begin by digging a large hole in the ground, about nine or ten feet in depth. This they line with poles and sticks, making, in fact, a wall as of a house. A stout conical roof is then raised over the hole, and upon the roof earth is thickly strewn and beaten down, just as has been mentioned when treating of the ice-house. The only access to this strange house is by a circular aperture in the centre of the conical roof, serving at once the purpose of a door, a chimney, and a window. A notched pole answers as a ladder, a low wooden dais placed against the wall serves as a bed or a chair, for there is no other, and a few stones placed together act as a fireplace.
In looking at both these subterranean dwellings, I could not but be reminded of a very common insect which has a double dwelling, one moiety being aboveground, and the other moiety below it. This is the common Wood-ant (Formica rufa), whose large, leafy hills are so plentiful in some of our woods. On account of its size, this species is sometimes called the Horse-ant.
At first sight the nest looks something like a small haycock, made entirely of chopped grass. When examined more nearly, it will be found to consist mostly of grass-stems, little bits of stick, and leaves. Those of the fir are in great request, for when they are dry they are very light, and their form enables the Ant to interweave them with each other, so as to form the necessary tunnels and galleries which line the interior of the nest. The materials seem most unpromising, but they are used with wonderful skill, such as no human fingers could equal.