"For every one of these soldiers there are about one hundred labourers. The soldiers do the fighting; and though they are perfectly blind, they fight well, and are very brave. The following is a picture, too, of the soldiers' awls, seen through the microscope, to show you how sharp they are. [Illustration] "And here is a picture of the labourer; the largest part of the city is made up of the labourers,--which shows us, I think, boys, that there is more need of working than there is of fighting. [Illustration: Labourer of the Termites.] This class, like the soldiers, is blind, and scarcely ever go into the open air; their work is mostly under ground or in the inside of wood. Both, however, do come out when their city is attacked and broken: but I will tell you of that presently." FOOTNOTE: [9] M. Humboldt. CONVERSATION X. _Uncle Philip tells the Children more about the White Ants._ "Now, boys, as I have told you about the kinds of different work which these ants do, we will go on, and I will tell you about the inside of the city. The first thing to be done is to build a house for the king and queen. This is the first house built in the city, and always stands in the centre, directly under the point of the roof or top of the outside wall. It is built nearly on a level with the ground, and is shaped very much like a long oven, or the half of an egg split through the long way. The floor is exactly level, and about an inch thick; the roof is about the same thickness. The doors are on a level with the floor, and just large enough to let one of the labourers go in." "Why, Uncle Philip, how do the king and queen ever get out then."