The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1895-03-30
PESTERED>BY! BUGS
insects That Render the Lives OF
Europe ans Miserable.
Rodents That Browse Upon Ones Hair
aAd Reptiles That Are Numerous
and Sociabie-An Undesirable
Place to Live.

"Along with the intense heat" says q
returned East India traveller to New
York Sun man, there go many varieties
of noxious insects. The mosquitoes
swarm the year round. Every bed is
covered with a tent of mosquito net
ting, and it is the business of your boy,
after having made the bed in the morn
ing, to scare out all lingering mosqui-
toes and then draw the gauze curtains
close and tuck them under the mat
tress. On going TO bed you make lit
tie hole in the tent, get in quickly and
draw it tight again. House flies are a
= constant nuisance, and there are great
flying cockroaches, two inches long,
which Sometimes bite, and at certain
seasons leave their great wings lying
about the house. They eat ones patent
leather shoes. Flying ants, great black
creatures, come in swarrns and also
leave, their wings over everything. The
centii1ede an inch and half long, and
more venofnous than that of this coun-
try, gets into the house and often
crawlsl upon the sleeper So long as
one keeps still there is no danger. but
the creature, if one moves, is likely to
Gig bis claws into the flesh and make
an unpleasant sore. Scorpions abound.
They come out of old woodwork. and
You find them in books that have long
lain unused. Their bite is poisonous,
md sometimes fatal.
: along with the insects come the
serpents. The cobra is the most dan
gerous. 1t seldom comes into the
houses for some reason, though my
small sister slept upon a pile of mats
under which a sleeping cobra, was aft
erward found The cobra, however.
comes into the compound. and often
bites the natives. Europeans are sell
dom bitten by the cobra or other
snakes because the European goes
about in boots that give the serpent
notice Of his coming, and also perhaps
protect him from the bite. AS matter
Of fact serpents commonly met in India
do not voluntarily so after hnman
prey, but are probably more afraid of
man than man of them. 4 barefooted
'ANNN''N- tLNANAittS itO4SciNSSit. 8IFCS LiIc
serpent no notice of his approach, and
may unconsciously step upon him, and
then the creature bites in self-defense
1 knew native gardener to be bitten
by cobra. lie filed himself with
whisky and walked to keep himself
awake An Englishman whom | knew
was bitten by cobra, and his friends
nj " nr.-.t.aI
They walked him all night against his
Growsy protests and his earnest PRAYER
that re be permitted TO sleep. His life
was saved, but he never really reeov-
erred from the shock, though he lived
scany years after. The bracelet snake
is familiar and venomous little wretch
that takes pleasure in coiling up in
ones boot during tie night or in get
ting into the holes of ones garments.
One soon learns to shake ones boots
before putting them on. The natives
have curious aversion TO killing
snakes, and they have a superstition,
shared by some Europeans, that if a
cobra be slain its mate will come to
RTenge the act. OF course, there is no
foundation for 1t, save perhaps that
widowed cobra comes in search of her
mate and incidentally meets the slayer.
Rats abound in India and get into
houses and swarm aboard a ship. One
great Indian rat, the bandicoot. with a
sncut like a pig, visits ones bed at night
and chevs the ends of ones hair. I
knew a red-headed fellow on board
siaip VINO used to grease his hair with
o. or bears grease. lie was visited one
night by a bandicoot. and came upon
deck next morning with the oldest evi- |
1ence of the bandicoot's ba-hcrinr. !
The nIuSllrat swarms il India. gets into !
the houses as ali sorts of wild creatures !
io, since the doors are merely Enclosed |
openings. His smell is something ire |
nendous, and when he merely crosses
-he cork of a soda water bottle he /
seems To scent the contents.
The bite OF an insect. even though |
slight, or a small sore of any kind that |
would soon heal in temperate eli |
nate, may hang on for days or weeks
n the heat of India, and a slight i'll
hess greatly weallens one. Europeans
uclSiiy seldom take the native diseases.
nd. though cholera IS constantly pres
mt in India, it is only in cases of pc
'lliarly widespread epidenics that IL
caches the European population. There
5 no yellow fever there, but smallpox
avages the natives. II is amazing
Q see how many natives are pocl.-
marked. The natives have small faith !
n European doctors, but they always
AXE the European cholera mixture. OF
curse 10 European submits himself to
native doctor. AbScess of the liver
5 the great terror of the European,
hough the land breeze comes laden
nth ell sortS of horrible possibilities.
The change of climate as one goes
rom the coast into the mountains is
Ike magic. On the journey up from
'ombay to Materan one starts with
pccAetful of Indian cigars, triehinopo-
$, cheap long rolls of tobacco with a
traw through them that they may
raw. This is because they are ex-
-ernelv wet, but when one reaches
iateran he finds his trichiniopolis as
~ as punk. The thin atmosphere
the heights has sucked them dry Of
] their moisture"
Effective PROBATION.
That young man." exclaimed Mrs
iiington, Indignantly, sis an impostor.
shall give orders TO have him excluded