The Osceola times., 1882-04-29
BUFFALO GNATS.
The Terrible Torture to Which the Animals
I'm the Overlooked Districts are Sub
Jected.


I'm the Overlooked Districts are Sub
Jected.
The terrible letter received on Mon
day by the relief commissioners reveals
a state of affairs in Richland parish
which would require the pencil rather
than the pen to depict in all its pathetic
horror. Whiie The foundations OF the
Nile or the Ganges have fixed perio-
dicity, which allows of provision and
calculation, the risipgs of the Mississippi
are irregular and erratic to a degree
which at present renders precautionary
measures null and void. Lowlands be.
come lakes-lakes full of treacherous
whirlpools and currents; and the result
is twenty years toll is annihilated in a
few hours. At this moment vast num-
bers of people are living upon charity;
and that charity must be brought
and given in boats. The loss of stock is
enormous, and the destruction of prop
erty incalculsble.
The Richland correspondent above
referred to announces circumstances
which do not seem to belong to a civil
lized portion of the world, but rather to
those swampy regions Of Africa described
in Livingstone's travels, the home of the
Tsetse fly. With the rising of the waters
new and terrible plague made its ap-
pearance-the merciless buffalo gnat.
Nature has taught the wild buffalo a
means of protection against this blood
Thirsty enemy; the buffalo, already bet
ter protected than any other bovine
creature by reason of its thick and
splendid robe, rolls itself in soft mud,
which, drying subsequently, forms q
cuirass impenetrable to insect weapons,
The domestic animals, unaccustomed to
such enemies, are defenseless against
them, especially when fighting for life
against the pursuing waters. Over every
knoll, hillock and ridge where animals
could nd footing, the buffalo gnats
hovered in elouds-thick mists Of sting
ing. buzzine insect life. The hogs, horses,
cattle and sheep died under their stings
in myriads.
Nor was this all. When those wild
creatures which rarely show themselves,
even TO the hunter become tanned by
suffering and fear. and voluntarily seek
protection from their greatest enemy,
man--as in Dore's pictured egends OF
the deluge-the climax of cataclysmic
destruction would appear to have been
reached. And this has been the case
not only at Richland, but also, doubtless,
in many regions overflowed.
The wild deer made no effort to avoid
man; on the contrary, tl,ey sought
human protection, and covered with
gnats, the blood streaming over their
fianks, often followed people home who
encouraged them. At Nstchez a troop
of some forty deer actually entered the
town, and galloped through the streets
unmolestcd; for no man had the heart
to injure the timid, gentle creatures dur
ing their flight from destruction.
Many Of the hogs and cattle in the
flooded districts are said to have been
killed by gnats, and it is not likely the
plague will dimiDish-if, indeed, it does
not increase--for some time to come.
The wild deer and other creature are
being destroyed in great numbers by the
pests. Those protected and taken home
by kind-hearte9 people soon expired
from the venom of the insects sting
Under ordinary circumstances All animal
has tho resort to flight, or can at least
rub the unprotected portions of its body
against a tree. But under present cir
cumstances they eau only endure and
die. They are literally eaten alive. If
they plunge into the water to get rid of
their tormentors their nostrils are at
tackled, and, swelling up, render natural
breathing impossible. When the poor
animals open their mouths to gasp for
air, the huge gnats enter and cause in
conceivable agony. Pharaoh's plague of
flies seems to have been revived in this
American Nile; assuredly, from all nc
counts, that plague Of Egypt, which 'cor
rupted the whole land" could not have
been much more grievous.