“That is indeed admirable, Uncle Thomas; they must be very curious animals.”

“They are divided into various classes, in the same way as bees; choosing a queen, and some of them acting as workers, &c.  But the white ants have a class to which there is nothing similar among any other race of insects.  These are what Smeathman calls soldiers, from the duties which they perform.  They are much less numerous than the workers, being somewhat in the proportion of one in one hundred.  The duty of the soldier-insects is to protect the nest when it is attacked.  They are furnished with long and slender jaws, and when enraged bite very fiercely, and sometimes even drive off the negroes who may have attacked them, and even white people suffer severely,—­the bite bleeding profusely even through the stocking.  Some one who observed the colony alarmed, by having part of the nest broken down, gives the following account of the subsequent operations.  One of the soldiers first makes his appearance, as if to see if the enemy be gone, and to learn whence the attack proceeds.  By and by two or three others make their appearance, and soon afterwards a numerous body rushes out, which increases in number so long as the attack is continued.  They are at this time in a state of the most violent agitation; some employed in beating upon the building with their mandibles, so as to make a noise which may be distinctly heard at the distance of three or four feet.  Whenever the attack is discontinued, the soldiers retire first, and are quickly followed by the labourers, which hasten in various directions towards the breach, each with a burden of mortar ready tempered, and thus they soon repair the chasm.  Besides the duty of protecting the colony, the soldiers seem to act as overseers of the work, one being generally in attendance on every six or eight hundred; and another, who may be looked upon as commander in chief, takes up his station close to the wall which they are repairing, and frequently repeats the beating which I just mentioned, which is instantly answered by a loud hiss from all the labourers within the dome,—­those at work labouring with redoubled energy.”

“But, Uncle Thomas, what can be the use of such animals as white ants?  I really cannot see what use they are for.”

“Well, John, I confess I do not much wonder at your question, though, in putting it, you have forgotten that God makes nothing in vain.  Mr. Smeathman, who tells us so much about these curious animals, has answered you by anticipation; and his answer is in such a spirit that I cannot do better than read it to you.