WHITE ANTS. 29 1 CHAPTER V. WHITE ANTS, The storm had now burst în full fury, and fortunate 5t was that a refuge had been found. The rain did not fall în separate drops as în temperate zones, but descended like the waters of a cataract, în one solid and compact mass, în a way that could only suggest the outpour of some vast aerial basîn containîng the waters of an entîre océan. Contrary, too, to the storms of hîgher latitudes, of whîch the duratîon seems ordinarily to be în înverse ratio to their violence, thèse Afrîcan tempests, whatever their magnitude, oflen last for whole days, furrowing the soil into deep ravines, changing plains to lakes and brooks to torrents,, and causing rivers to overflow and cover vast districts wîth their inondations. It îs hard to understand whence such volumes of vapour and electrîc fluid can accumu- lâtes The earth, upon thèse occasions, might almost seem lo be carried back to the remote period whîch has been called " the diluvîan âge.*' Happîly, the walls of the ant-hîll were very thîck ; no beaver-hut formed of pounded earth could be more per- fectly water-tight, and a torrent might hâve passed over it without a particle of moisture making îts way through its substance. As soon as the party had taken possession of the tene- inent, a lantem was lighted, and they proceeded to examine the interîor. The cône, whîch was about twelve feet high insîde, was eleven feet wide at the base, gradually narrow* ing to a sugar-loaf top. The walls and partitions betweea U 2
