two minutes before it will be covered with flies and their maggots,
which, instantly entering, quickly devour one part, and perforating the
rest in various directions, expose the whole to be much sooner
decomposed by the elements. Thus it is with the _Termites_. The rapid
vegetation in hot climates, of which no idea can be formed by any thing
to be seen in this, is equalled by as great a degree of destruction
from natural as well as accidental causes. It seems apparent that when
anything whatever has arrived at its last degree of perfection, the
Creator has decreed that it shall be wholly destroyed as soon as
possible, that the face of nature may be speedily adorned with fresh
productions in the bloom of spring, or the pride of summer; so when
trees and even woods are in part destroyed by tornadoes or fire, it is
wonderful to observe how many agents are employed in hastening the total
dissolution of the rest. But in hot climates there are none so expert,
or who do their business so expeditiously and effectually, as these
insects, which in a few weeks destroy and carry away the bodies of large
trees, without leaving a particle behind; thus clearing the place for
other vegetables which soon fill up every vacancy: and in places where
two or three years before there has been a populous town, if the
inhabitants, as is frequently the case, have chosen to abandon it,
there shall be a very thick wood, and not a vestige of a post to be
seen, unless the wood has been of a species which from its hardness is
called iron wood."

"Thank you, Uncle Thomas. I see, I was quite wrong in supposing that the
ants are of no use. I really did not imagine that they could have been
so serviceable."