Before passing to the ruins of some of the cities of antiquity, we would
here, by way of variety, briefly describe the wonderful and curious nest
of the “_sociable weavers_,” as they are called, which abound in some
parts of Africa; a view of which is given in the engraving below.
Hundreds of these birds, in one community, join to form a structure of
interwoven grass, containing various apartments, all covered by a
sloping roof, which is extended, from year to year, as the increase of
their numbers may require. A traveler, having examined one of these huge
nests, found it to consist mainly of grass, without any mixture, but so
firmly basketed together as to be impenetrable to the rain, and
extending like a canopy over all the particular nests built by the
individual birds. The one he examined contained no less than three
hundred and twenty cells.
[Illustration: AFRICAN BIRDS’ NEST.]
Returning from this digression, we now pass to the notice of some of the
ruins of the cities of antiquity; and first to the