Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1901-01-04

Mako Life q Burden Along Proposed
5. Nicaragua Canal Route.

we were down there" said Engineer
Strouse, of the isthmus survey corps,
who is spending a few days in the
city, recently, en- route to his home in
Pennsylvania. Mr.. Strouse had
charge Of the river work along the
line Of the proposed Nicaragua canal,
and was nearly two years on the job.
THE raft scheme enabled us to shift
camp as the survey progressed" he
continued, "and it proved a great con
yenience. The main discomfort we
experienced was from the insects,
which are frightful in that section.
The most formidable Of the lot is a
small fly, called the foulana' in the
native lingo. never saw one to know
it, although | was bitten by them
twice; but ] understand they are al
most indistinguishable from the or
binary house fly. They have a sting
that penetrates any light clothing,
but il causes almost no pain, and the
victim generally knows nothing Of
it until about a week afterward, when
Inflammation begins to set in. 1t
seems that the fly deposits a micro
scopic egg under the skin The egg
develops into a worm about three
fourths of an inch long, with a hard,
bony head, shaped almost exactly like
the end Of an auger It proceeds to
bore directly into the body, and if it
isn't stopped viii cause death. | had
one taken out Of my collar bone and
another out Of my hip. If treated in
time, however, they are brought to
the surface without much difficulty,
and then extricated. Another terror
is the alligator ant. 1t is shaped like
any common ant, but is black and
fully half an inch long. If one gets
on any part Of your body the proper
thing to do is to keep perfectly still,
and in that case the creature viii
walk off without doing any harm
But, if you attempt to brush it away,
it will instantly sink its claws into
your flesh, and, while the punctures
are not at all dangerous, the pain they
cause is simply excruciating Scor-
pions are also common along the river.
and lots of times have Knocked them
out of my shoes in the morning. They
are hideous to look at, and the ma
tives hold them in the greatest dread |
but ! doubt whether they !
are really poisonous. During the en-
tire time ! was down there | never
heard of anyone being stung by them.
AS far as snakes are concerned"
Mr.. Strouse went on, in reply to a |
question, '|there are only two in that
region that are especially to be
dreaded-the coral snake and the
horned snake. The coral gets to be !
six or seven feet long and haunts the |
cane brakes and marshes. 1t is a |
yorgeous-looking creature, with al
-ernating bands of brilliant red. yell
ow and ietty black, and its bite is
nearly always fatal The horned
make, however, is much the worse
If the two. 1t seldom exceeds a ward
n length, but is incredibly agile and
las a repulsive, fiat head, with two
small horns above the eyes. It's Bite
S certain death, and the poison Is so
swift that it generally, kills inside off
half an hour. AS far as ! know, it'll
IS the deadliest serpent in the world, !
and the usual remedies have no effect |
onitsvictims. We lost three
men in our corps from the horned |
snake bites, and one Of the reptiles
was the cause Of rather a thrilling
episode in our camp while we were
on the upper river. We weremaking
a stop of several days at a certain
point and had pitched the officers
tent on top Of a little knoll, by the
bank. There was a table in the center,
and our cots we're ranged around the
sides One night we were seated at
the table, playing social game of
cards, when the engineer ON my left
leaned over and said in a low tone:
Don't move, anybody! There is a
horned snake coming out from under
the beds, and he is just getting ready
to springp You may imagine our
feelings lfa lighted bombshell had
been dropped into the tent our peril
could not have been greater, and con-
fess, frankly, that was simply frozen
with horror. The man who had