The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-08-07
Insect Plaques Of the Upper
AnaZOmS.

None but those who have travelled on the
Upper Amazons can have any idea of the
number and voracity of the insect torments
which work their wicked will on the bodies of
the unfortunates exposed to their attacks.
There is fly which burrows in the skin
and deposits an egg, both in human beings
and animals. This produces maggot,
similar in shape to that of the common blow
fly, but much larger OF course, intlamma-
ton in the part, followed by suppuratlon and
discharge or extraction of the foreign body,
take place Although the maggot is probably
analogous TO the Guinea worm, it differs from
it in being always discharged entire, whereas
the Guinea worm requires very careful and
gradual extraction.
Then there are 'chlgos, which burrow
mostly in the soles of the feet You feel an
intense itching, and on examination, find a
little thing like pea just under the epider-
mis- this is the bag containing the young
chigos, which must be carefully picked out
with the point of a knife. and the cavity left
filled with tohacco-ash. 1t is said that if the
bag is broken and the young chigos escape,
serious consequences will result. This, how
ever We do not believe as we have broken
many in the act of extracting them from
our own feet; but always using plenty of
obacco-ash, we never experienced any in
convenience. Huge spiders abound, whose
very appearance inspires wholesome
are harmless enough if let alone. In fact, on
board our steamers, almost every cabin was
tenanted by one large spider, whose presence
was tolerated on account of his being a deadly
foe to coclroaches, which abominable crea-
lures used to swarm on board Sometimes he
would not be visible for fortnight or more
at time; but he would leave tokens that he
was ''all there, in the shape of the empty
husks of cockroaches, from which he had care
llvy al,g tod S.1,,a
have the power of springing upon their prey
from a distance, and some of them are so large
and powerful as to kill and devour small
birds.
In passing through the narrow forest paths.
it is necessary to be on the lookout for the
wood-ticks, which are very difficult to get rid
| of, If once firmly attached also for the huge
! black ants an inch and a half in length, with
! stings like hornets; and the sauba ant.
! without sting, but armed with nppers like
| pair Of surgical bOne-forceps. which are run
ming about everywhere. One may sometimes
chance upon column of the dreaded fire
ants, marching III regular military order; and
if you do, the only thing is to bolt at once, for
neither man nor beast may withstand the fire.
| ant and live Occasionally one remarkt the
slender form OF a tree-snake gliding away, or
the deadly tucu-riju' baslling III a sunny
spot; while from out the messy roots OF the
you and startled lizards patter away over the
dead leaves. When at length you stop to
rest take care to examine your camping
| ground, lest you find that centipede or scor-
pion may fancy the same locality.
Frequently on board our steamer both CEN
| tipedes and scorpions would be killed, intro
duced no doubt in the wood used for fuel.
| One day, as were watching the hands
taking wood from canoes alongside. from one
g.g H.. 4. !
scorpion, which fell on the naked left arm of
a man keeping tally at the 9angway. Aston
ished by his sudden fight through the air, the
animal remained perfectly still. The man
never moved a muscle, and quietly raising his
right hand Tipped it away with his fingers and
thumb. 1t was very neatly and coolly
done; and he thus escaped a sting
which he no doubt would have re-
ceived had he tried to brush it hastily
away. Ants are a horrid plague, both afoat
and ashore. 1t Is amusing to see a host of
small ants carrying off the body of defunct
cOcluOach, giving one the idea of mice depart
ing with a dead elephant. But they are a
great nuisance. They will not however.
walk over cotton wool; and anything placed
on OF enclosed by it is safe from them. The
sauba ants are, we think, the greatest depre-
dators of any. They form regular communi-
ties, where each individual workers, sol
Of duty, and are great excavators.
Mr. Bates, in his work the Naturalist on
the Amazon, has given very capital de-
scription of these ants; but we fancy he has
omitted to mention the extremely pungent
aromatic smell they, or at least their nests,
possess. The ants are extremely destructive
to cacao plantations, stripping the trees of
their leaves; they will carry away a large
basket of grain in a single night, should any
of them come across it. A migration takes
place sometimes from the parent stock some
of the ants becoming winged and flying of.
Few, however, escape the Indians, who are
always on the watchforthese migrations, and by
whom these,winged ants are considered rather
a b0aHC dOUchC They catch and stuff them
into bottles, occasionally tightening the work
by pulling the wings off one, and devouriug
him alive. We never had the courage to
taste one, although we have partaken of
many strange dishes Monkey aud parrot
are both good, tapir' and 'manatee not bad
and peccary Al: but we never ate a sauba
ant: nor could we ever taste drink mucl
affected by the Indians, and called 'massato
of which there is generally a large Jar stand.
ing in the corner of every Indian dwelling
They always offer it to visitors; but theil
mode of SO doing is not inviting, as it con.
sists in a black or rather copper-coOred paw
being thrust into the aforesaid lar. which
contains a sort of pulp, and bringing up
handful, which IS squeezed into a calahash
and placed at your disposal. This pulp is
however, produced by means which, from I'M
Willingness to disturb the stOmachs of OU
readers, we refrain from relating. Those ant,
which the Indiansfall preyto tiocks OF
hawks and other birds, which make their ap
a s4Vt 1fT