Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1871-03-30
HOUSES A. MILE HIGH.

LIZ man should build house of clay,
mile high, with no tools but his own
hands, 1t would be thought a wonderful
thing; and yet it is no higher, in proper
ton to his size, than the house built by
the white ants 's'f '77I"7'
These ants are curious creatures. They
always work in the dark, and under COW
er; and the first you know of their house,
1t begins to rise out Of the ground, roof
first, as you may say. They go on grow
ing in size until they are seventeen or
eighteen feet high, shaped like sugar
loaf, and covered all over with smaller
mounds. Haa1tts rg in
The inside is full of rooms and passages,
and yet, so strongly is it built, that men,
and even cattle, can stand on them with
perfect safety. Even then these indomitable
workers are not satisfied but they tunnel
out long passages, thirteen or fourteen
iaches high, to connect with other ant
hills, or To look for food
Suppose our roads had all to be tunnels,
and three hundred feet high. That is no
bigger for us than the thirteen inches for
the ant. n#.. sr
All this without one ant getting into
sight, You might have dozen of these
ant-hills in your yard, with millions of
ants, ana never see one. tfaa s.t...
The most curious thing about them, l
think, Is their taste for destroying wood
and paper and, in fact, anything they
can destroy. They will tunnel under
house, eat out the inside of every beam
and board of the floor, leaving walls no
thicker than paper. They will bore
through the floor into, the legs of chairs
and tables, eat out the inside of them, and
the first one knows of IL chair falls to
pieces under him, or fight OF stairs
crumbes into dust when stepped upon.
think one must feel very insecure in
those countries. In one case that | read
OF, they got into some packages of valu-
able papers, aud destroyed every particle
except the top leaf of every bundle, and
a thin wall of tho margins, leaving just
paper box. ..TF Mn
ers. They keep a standing army of
very fierce they are, too. They will hang
pieces They will draw blood from a
mans leg in a moment dt
They have also king and queen, who,
are, alas prisoners for life in their little
room They are larger than the rest of
the tribe, and while there are many doors
To admit attendants TO the room, they are
far too small for the royal pair TO get out.
/ don't know as they care about getting
out The queen, at least, has too much to
do to have time for airings, for she lays
eggs at the rate of eighty thousand in
twenty four hours, which must keep her
very busy However, she don't have to
take care Of all her babies, for hundreds
of the workers are constantly employed
in putting the eggs into their cradles, or
cells, attending to the Matching, and feed.
lug them till they can feed themselves
1t is nearly impossible to get chance
to soc the inside Of these ant houses for
as fast as they are pulled down, and the
galleries exposed, the workers rush IN by
millions, each with a piece Of clay in lis
mouth, and stop up every passage while
the soldiers fight with the greatest fury.
Ii the queen is taken out, they never
leave her, but will get clay and build a
thin dome over her, to shield her from
harm. fu5zi ri {fj +
Much mischief as they do, however,
they do one very useful work. In tropical
countries where the trees grow very large,
and tornadoes are common, many trees are
blown down; and the ground would be
covered with them but for these industri-
GUS little creatures, who eat out the inside
leaving only thin Tind Of tho bark.
They are also good to eat; at least the ne
groes think SO would not like to eat
them The negroes roast them az we do
coffee, and they are said TO taste like
sweetened Merry's Museum.
-->-