The Mt. Sterling advocate. (Mt. Sterling, Ky.) 1890-current, 1901-01-22
INSECTS AND SNAKES.
Make Life a Burden Along Proposed
Nicaragua Canal Route.

1--WE lived on raft most OF the TIN
we we're down there said Enginee
Strouse, of the isthmus survey corps
who is spending a few days in tn
city, recently, en- route TO his home II
| PENNSYLVANIA. Mr.. Strouse ha'
charge of the river work along thu
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" h'
continued, ''and il proved a great con
venience. The main discomfort W,
experienced was from the insects
which are frightful in that section
The most formidable of the lot is {
small fly, called the foulana in The
native lingo. Inever saw one to know
it,, although | was bitten by then
twice: but ] understand they are al
most indistinguishable from the or
binary house fly. They have a sting
that penetrates any light clothing
but it causes almost no pain, and the
victim generally knows nothing OF
il until about a week afterward, when
inflammation begins to set in. Ii
seems that the fly deposits a micro
SCOPE egg under the skin. The egg
develops into a worm about three
fourths of an inch long, with hard,
bony head, shaped almost exactly like
the end Of an auger. II proceeds to
bore directly into the body, and if i;
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. II 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 10 keep perfectly still,
and in that case the creature will
walk Off without doing any harm.
But, if you attempt to brush ii 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
tiyes hold them in the greatest dread
imaginable, but doubt whether they
are really poisonous. During the en-
tire time | was down there | never
heard Of anyone being stung bythem.
GAS far as snakes are concerned, q"
Mr.. Strouse went on, in reply to a
question, "there are only two in that
region that are especially 10 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
gorgeous-looking creature, with al
ternating bands Of brilliant red, yell
low and jetty black, and its bite is
nearly always fatal. The horned
snake, however, is much the worse
Of the two. II seldom exceeds a yard
in length, but is incredibly agile and
has repulsiye. flat head, with two
snail horns above the eyes. Its bite
is certain death, and the poison is SO
swift that it generally kills inside OF
half an hour As far as ] know. it
is the deadliest serpent in the world,
and the usual remedies have no effect
whatever on its victims. 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 were making
stop Of several days at a certain
point and mad pitched the officers
tent on top Of a little knoll, by the
bank. There was a table in the center,
and our cots were ranged around the
sides One night we were seated at
the table, playing a social game of
cards, when the engineer ON my left
leaned over and said in 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. If a 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
spoken quietly reached behind his
chair, picked up a machete, made a
lightning pass, and completely sew
cred the snakes head. 1t was a mon
ster, and had it not been for the cool