When these hills are little more than half their height, it is a common practice of the wild bulls to stand as sentinels on them, while the rest of the herd are ruminating below. They are sufficiently strong for that purpose, and at their full height answer excellently well as places of look-out; and Mr. Smeathman has been, with four more, on the top of one of these hillocks, to watch for a vessel in sight. The outward shell, or dome, is not only of use to protect and support the interior buildings from external violence and the heavy rains, but to collect and preserve a regular degree of the warmth and moisture necessary for hatching the eggs and cherishing the young. The royal chamber occupied by the king and queen appears to be, in the opinion of this little people, of the most consequence, being always situated as near the centre of the interior building as possible. It is always nearly in the shape of half an egg, or an obtuse oval, within, and may be supposed to represent a long oven. In the infant state of the colony it is but about an inch in length; but in time will be increased to six or eight inches, or more, in the clear, being always in proportion to the size of the queen, who, increasing in bulk as in age, at length requires a chamber of such dimensions. [Illustration: Queen distended with Eggs.] Its floor is perfectly horizontal, and in large hillocks, sometimes more than an inch thick of solid clay. The roof, also, which is one solid and well-turned oval arch, is generally of about the same solidity; but in some places it is not a quarter of an inch thick on the sides where it joins the floor, and where the doors or entrances are made level with it, at nearly equal distances from each other. These entrances will not admit any animal larger than the soldiers or labourers; so that the king and the queen (who is, at full size, a thousand times the weight of a king) can never possibly go out, but remain close prisoners. [There is a good series of the queen cells of the Termite in the British Museum, and the reader is strongly recommended to go and examine them. Some of them are as large as cocoa-nuts. Around the cell are a number of small holes, looking as if they had been bored with a bradawl. Now, if the cell be carefully opened, a most curious arrangement will be seen. Each of the little holes serves as an opening into a passage which communicates with the interior of the cell. The apartment, if we may so call it, which contains the queen, is only just large enough to hold her, and there is no door or opening for her egress. This, however, is not required, as her enormous size prevents her from moving. Through these passages runs incessantly a stream of worker termites, some of them carrying eggs which the queen has just laid, and others returning to the royal chamber for a fresh supply.]