[SECTION II.]
Of the Termite, Termes, or Bug a Bug, as it is called by the Natives upon the Windward Coast of Africa.
Among the insects mentioned in page 36, the termite, termes, or bug a bug, attracts peculiar notice. The following observations are derived from the investigations I occasionally made upon the Island of Tasso, attached to Bance Island, where they abound, and indeed in nearly all the western countries of Africa.
The oeconomy of nature, and the wisdom of Providence, are wonderfully displayed in these little animals; for although they occasion the utmost devastation to buildings, utensils, and all kinds of household furniture and merchandize, and indeed every thing except metal and stone, yet they answer highly important purposes in demolishing the immense quantity of putrid substances, which load the earth in tropical climates.
Their astonishing peculiarities cannot fail to excite the notice of an attentive observer; the sagacity and ingenuity they display in their buildings, their industry, and the plunder and devastation they commit, is incredible to those who have not witnessed their communities and empires. They are divided into innumerable societies, and acknowledge a king and queen, the former of which I brought to Europe, but the latter was by accident mislaid at sea. Linnaeus denominates the African bug a bug, Termes, and describes it as the plague of the Indies. Every community, as I have observed, has a king and queen, and the monarchy, if I may be allowed the expression, forms three distinct orders of insects, in three states of existence; of every species 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.