Page:Ancient India as described by Megasthenês and Arrian.djvu/186

 167 the elephant, which answers to this character, and the parrot^ and apes- of the sphinx kind, and the creatures called satyrs. Nor must we for- get the Indian ant, which is so noted for its wisdom. The ants of our own country do, no doubt, dig for themselves subterranean holes and burrows, and by boring provide themselves with lurking-places, and wear out all their strength in what may be called mining operations, which are indescribably toilsome and conducted with se- crecy ; but the Indian ants construct for them- selves a cluster of tiny dwelling-houses, seated not on sloping or level grounds where they could easily be inundated, but on steep and lofty eminences. And in these, by boring out. with untold skill certain circuitous passages which remind one of the Egyptian ^burial-vaults or Cretan labyrinths, they so contrive the structure of their houses that none of the Hues run straight, and it is difficult for anything to enter them or flow into them, the windings and per- forations being so tortuous. On the outside they leave only a single aperture to admit them- selves and the grain which they collect and carry to their store-chambers. Their object in selecting lofty sites for their mansions is, of course, to escape the high floods and inimdations of the rivers; and they derive this advantage from their foresight, that they live as it were in so many watch-towers or islands when the parts around the heights become all a lake. More- Digitized by Google