The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1901-12-10

The over populated parts Of Europe
arc full of beggars, but have never
seen beggar among these people,
be it said to their credit, except the
blind and the very old In the cit
les the blind beggers squat down and
step while in that position and hold
out one hand and sing little beg.
ging song to the tune Of The Carni-
val of Venice.
There are no native wild animals
hero except door, monkeys and thous-
ands of bats; some Of the largest bats
being as much as two feet across the
wings. When they sleep they
hang by one hind foot and wrap them
selves up with their wings.
The doves, hawks, swallows, king
fishers and other birds which l have
seen are smaller and differ from those
in the United States except the GROW.
He is all right. One cliff swallow
bnilds nest which the Chinese eat
and for which they pay Il higher
price than for any other article Of
food.
Among tho interesting reptiles
are man eating crocodiles, pythons
as much as % feet long and harm
less lizards 3 feet long. There are
numbers of these lizards in the old
houses and walls in Manila. and when
they try tc sing it is great joke on
account of the close resemblance be-
tween their note and some English
words One little newt stays about
the houses and keeps them pretty
FREQ Of bedbugs, flies and other
troublesome household insects.
Fish are abundant and in great
varieties. 1 do not know much about
fish and besides l am trying to tell
the truth in this letter, and fish stories
might have bad effect. The cat
fish, with his feelers is the most fa-
miliar to me- The natives fish
great part of the time and it seems
to delight them very much whether
they catch anything or not. During
the other part of their time they
usually sleep or just squat still and
let their food digest.
l was surprised to find the insects
80 remarkably similar to those on
the other side of the earth. While
they are nearly all modified in some
way. yet the same red ants, wasps,
butterflies, bees, moths, crickets,
grasshoppers, tirehies, reaches, spi-
ders, mosquitoes, snapbeetles and
tumblebugs are all here and are
struggling for existence in just the
same way. In the State there are
little white insects called woodlice,
which resemble ants and stay under
plank which remains on damp ground.
Here they are called white ants and
are the most dreaded sets; for they
come into the houses in the wet sea,
son and can eat out the interior of
books, furniture, woodwork and
other thingsin single night. They
never expose themselves to the light
and therefore can destroy anything
before their presence is suspicioned.
My valice had been on the floor near
my bed for several days and they
made hole through the floor and
into it and ate up some South Caro-.
lima newspapers without bothering
anything else. There is a big grass
hopper which appears occasionally in
swarms of thousands upon thousands.
| have seen clouds of them passing
overhead for hours. The men, wo-
mon and children turn out in great
glee and catch them with nets and
by every other method. They boil
them, bake them, fry them, m AXE
them into pies, candy them and SIM
ply feast on them while they last.
Reaches are abundant abont the
houses and average one and five
eights inches in length; 30 they are
about eleven times as big as those at
home and run across the floor like
mice. The mosquitoes do not sing
much and give warning but bite very
quickly and their bite is poisonous;
for it frequently swells and remains
painful for some time. The doctors
believe they inject malaria and other
diseases into their victims. As plants