Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1856-11-19
,NsrcrIIFEoF AUSTRALIA.

n that naner some extracts from William How
tits work on Australia, which VIII interest
those who have not seen that valuable book,
and comfort those who suppose insects to be
peculiarly the pest of this country.]
The advice Hewitt gives to those who, 'snot
content with such things as they have" are
troubled by golden visions of q far-of country,
is sfirst to go and dig coal pit, then work a
month at stone quarry, next sink well In
the wettest place he can find, of at least fifty
feet deep and finally clear out space CT six
teen feet square of box twenty feet deep;
and if, after that, he has still fancy for the
gold fields, let him come; understanding,
however, that all the time, he lives on heavy |
unleavened bread, on tea without milk, and |
on mutton or beef without vegetables, and as
tough as india rubber"
Then, as TO the living Accomplishments of
table at the diggings. cat your meals, in a
moment myriads of flies come swooping down,
cover the dish, and the meat on your plates,
till they are one black moving mass; dash
headlong into your tea, or whatever you are
drinking, and fight you to the last moment for
| the last morsel. Every meal is pitched and
hard fought battle too. At every hour of the
day, from sunrise to sunset, they assail with
:ncessant and unconquerable avidity. Yester-
day. when on the hills, I was wishing to take
closer view of the plants and stones. put
on my spectaces. Instantly dozens of black
flies ensconced themselves behind the glasses,
as many, in fact, as could crowd in, and they
defied me to diSlodge them. / was obliged to
take off my glasses, and go on with my doom
of bough-twirling.
ssIt is curious that Dampier in his voyage
round the world in 1888, never mentions the
annoyance of flies anywhere but in: Australia,
though he had been in the hottest regions OF
the West Indies, South America, and Indian
Ocean, which shows that they are here an un-
exampled plague.' Speaking of the natives,
e he says, ssTheir eye-lds are always half closed
< to keep the flies ont of their eyes; they being
/ so troublesome here that no flaming viii keeI
: them rrem coming to ones face, and withou!
into ones noStrls and mouth, If the iips arr
not shut very close So that from their infan
cy, being thus annoyed with these insects, they
do never open their eyes as other people, ana
therefore they cannot see far unless thew hold
up their heads, as If they were looking at
; Meats are almost Immediately covered bv
biow-fies and corrupted.
ANTS are most numerous next to the flies.
They cover the whole surface of the ground
of all coiors and all sizes, and almost;every va
riety OF them sting keenly. Nor is il the
ground only on which they swarm; there is
not log lying on the ground, nor a tree stan
dlng IN the forest, up and down which they are
not creeping in myriads. Trains of them are
constantly ascending to the topmost twigs of
the loftiest gum trees, two hundred and fiftv
feet high, and other trains descending. They
appear to be the main cause of the hoIlowness
OF the trees, as they pierce to the centre of
the youngest ones, and eat ont and make their
nests in the hearts. They eat the wood of the
boughs, so that immense arms often fall off
with sudden snap, just as if they had been
cut asunder by axe. The other day we cut
down young stringy bark tree and split il to
make some trestles, and the heart of it was all
eaten out and occupied by ants These in
sects, many of them an inch long, fiercely con-
test the ground with US when we are pitching
our tent in any fresh place, and their sting is
as severe as that of wasp.''
sWhen the flies leave after sunset. lerions
of mosquitoes come piping in their thninotes.
These we could keep off; they are feeble COM
pared to the flies, but have great power of
punctuation, if allowed timc.''
"We watched the actions of the large inch
and half long ants, called bull dogs, and are
satisfied that they sting exactly as wasps and
bees do. We laid quantity of rice which
was wet, to dry in the sun. cloud of black |
flies settled on it; but very soon advanced |
host of bulldog ants. They pounced on the |
flies as tigers would on their prey, seized the |
flies with their mandibles, and stung them with |
their tails. Their death was instant [; and the |
ants marched off with them.
eff the bulldogs only killed the black f1y. |
we should ragard them as no trifing benefac- |
tors; but they are SO vicious and sting us so |
abominab!y on such occasions, that We wage |
ruthless war on them if they enter our tent; |
but as to killing them by cutting them to pie |
ces, that is hopeless. Cut them in two. and |
the head win Immediately seize the body and |
gripe it fercely with its nippers, and the tail
will sting away at the head''
'sSome of their nests arc often six or eight
self''
"Other species form nests like globes, two
feet in diameter, hard like gutta percha and
as tough; these are found under the roots of
trees when blown down. The white ants form
conical nests of clay OF three or four feet
high, and the same in diameter at the base
These are baked by the sun to the hardness of
bricks and the entrances to them s~e eo ea,a !