St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1880-04-10
The Paradise OF Insects.

None but those who have travelled OF
the Upper Amazons can have any ide
OF the number and voracity of the insec
torments which work their wicked will
on the bodies of the unfortunates ex
| posed to their attacks. The "sancu
dos,' or small sand-llies, form by ia
the most important section. In the vii
lagos, round which the forest is cleared
away for some distance, the sancudo
are generally pretty quiet during The
day, except where darkness prevails
there they are ever busy, and are per
feet plague. The triumphant note of {
sancudo which has made his way under
your curtain is more annoying than ever
his bite; and should you have beer
careless in getting into bed, and beer
accompanied by two or three of these
blood-suckers, we will defy you to sleeE
until you nave externlinated them.
In the forest and on the river the san.
cudos are always busy. Men sometimes
get into The vessels tops, and there
cover themselves with sacks, notwith-
standing the heat, rather than remain
below exposed to their attacks. Fortu.
nately they can not stand a current OF
air, and So when under way the vessel
Is comparatively free from them, but
when at anchor these pests are some
thing awful. To get rid of them is next
to impossible. CreosGte will keep them
off, but the remedy is as bad as the
disease. Whitewash will drive them
away, but when dry its power ceases j;
and the only thing to do is either to
cover all exposed parts of the body with
black pigment 1T mote Mdienue, or
else to ''grin and bear it,
Scarcely less troublesome than the
sancudos are the mosquitoes, although
they have the negative merit of biting
only by day. They are minute crea,
lures, not much larger than a pins
head; they prefer The backs of the
hands to any other spot for their at
tacks. But, unlike the sancudo, which,
when undisturbed, gorges himself until
unable to lily, and becomes an easy prey
to your avenging finger, the mosquito
never seems to take too much to prevent
his easy escape on the slightest appear
ance OF danger, being evidently Just as
Wlde-awake when full as when empty.
Everywhere in long grass turks the
"moquim, a little red insect so small
as to be almost imperceptible, but which
tastens on the legs, causing the most in
tolerable itching
There is a fly which burrows in the
skin and deposits an egg, both in hu
man beings and animals. This pro-
duces maggot, similar in shape to that
of the common blnw-hy, but much
larger, probably analogous to the Gui-
neaWOrm.
Then there are "chigos,n which
burrow mostly in the soles of the feet.
You feel an intense itching, and on ex-
animation find little thing like pea
just under the epidermis; this is the bag
the young chigos, which must
be carefully picked out with the point of
knife, and the cavity left filled with
,obacco ash.
Huge spiders abound, whose very ap-
oearance inspires wholesome dread of
nearer acquaintance, but which are
harmless enough if let alone. In fact.
IN board the steamers, almost every |
cabin is tenanted by one large spider,
whose presence is tolerated on account |
# his being deadly foe to cockroaches,
which abominable creatures swarm on
'oard. Sometimes he is not visible for
fortnight or more at a time; but he |
caves tokens of " having been there,''
n the shape of the empty husks of cock
caches, from which he has carefully
distracted the interior. These spiders
ave the power of springing upon their
rey from a distance, and some of them
re so large and powerful as to kill and
evour small birds.
In passing through the narrow forest
aths it is necessary to be on the look
ut for the wood-ticks, which are very
ifficult to get rid of if once firmly at
ached; also for the huge black ants, an
lch and half in length, with stings
Ike hornets; and the sauba ant,
'ithout sting, but armed with nippers
Ike pair of surgical bone-forceps,
'hich are running about every where.
me may sometimes chance upon a COL
mn of the dreaded g tire-ants," march
e in regular military order; and if he
oes, the only thing is to bolt at once,
n neither man nor beast may withstand
Re fire-ant and live. When at length
lie traveller stops to rest, he must take
Ire to examine the camping ground to
e that neither centipede nor scorpion
there. t
Frequently both centipedes and scor
ons are found on the steamers, intro
iced no doubt, in the wood used for (
ell. One day while the writer was g
atching the hands taking wood from c
noes alongside, from one of the logs S
tched on board was dislodged scor- q
on, which fell on the naked left arm of a
man keeping tally at the gangway. K
stonished by his sudden flight through e
e air, the animal remained perfectly S
Ill. The man never moved muscle,
ID quietly raising his right hand, flip Z
ID it away with his fingers and thumb. Il
was very neatly and coolly done; and a
thus escaped a sting, which he no a
ubt would have received had he tried Ii
brush it hastily away.-Harper's il
'uag People. v
Distribution of Plants. n