The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1901-03-23
CAMPING LIFE IN CHINA
PESTS WHICH MAKE THE SOLDIERS
LOT A HARD ONE.


Chinese habits of uncleanliness are
calculated to bring fly pest every
summer. This year the usual condl-
lions have been aggravated by the
scayenger work which fire, shell ana
loot has provided. The fly supply, In.
deed, has so far exceeded the demand
as to bring out prominently. even 10
the most unframed observation, hab-
its traits and possibilities in flies tnat
usually pass unheeded.
AS anywhere else, the ny here feeis
bound to take part in all preparations
and service Of food, but here there are
SO many fly mouths to feed that IL Is
not content with fair share OF COM
missary, but it tries to grab IL ALL
dish containing food cannot be ex-
posed without instantly becoming
black with a covering Of flies. When
the meal is ready to be served the
eater must guess at the contents OF
many of the dishes, for the flies hide
them completely, and those unable te
get aboard the eatables the instant OF
their appearance hover above the ia
BILE. Luzzing like a swarm Of bees,
awaiting their turn at the feast They
are Sc desperately and recklessly raw
enous that the owner of the victuals
must brush them aside to get at HE
own.
Their fondness for alighting on hu-
man flesh and clinging to it has APP
parently been stimulated by the great
number Of carcasses of men and ami
mails which the summer sun began to
bloat and stew in the river and along
its banks near the coast in July, and
which process was extended to the
highways and fields as far as Pekin
when the troops came northward. One
| must have fan in motion all the
time to keep clear of them.
Toward evening they seek the dwell
| ings, the Chinese beds of woven straw
and mating and the walls near the
beds enjoying their special favor.
| They cover the soldiers cots and
blankets as readily as other bedding,
and they resent intrusion upon those
resting places.
When one goes to bed at night he
is assailed by protest from the flies,
and when they have made room for
him by crowding themselves to one
| side and covering the under surface
of his resting place, they keep up a
murmur of discomfort, which seems to
threaten bodily harm. and sometimes
inflicts it, in a Liliputian way, by a
| 80
minutive stings. The human occupant
moves at his peril after once lying
down, for while his bedfellows become
reconciled to him while he remains
quiet, they are there to sleep and let
him SO understand. They expect him
evidently, not to turn or twist or shift
his position, no matter what may hap
pen.
Fly occupants of the walls near the
bed do not rest so well as those who
go to sleep in the place made fol
sleep; and they are wedged so close
together that the slightest movement
or disturbance in any part of the in
terlocked surface affects every othel
part. Hence there is always a sway
ing motion in the wall mass which
sounds not unlike heavy breathing.
If flies were the only night trouble.
sleeper might adjust himself to thei
convenience and get along not uncom
fortably until morning. Their nigh
activity is intermittent, and the re
suit always of provocation, while tina
of the fieas is continuous. Night il
the time for which the bed fieas hav,
been waiting, and they are fresh TO
business. The occupant of bed cal
feel them crisis over his body
but they are never found where hi
hands go cropping for them. He mus
await daylight to effect captures o
that enemy, and before daylight tn
colony has dispersed, but leaving ais
body tattoOed as completely as if
crew of sailors needlemen had bee
at work on it.
Nor is the mosquito idle in his usua
business hours. He can be as PERM
cious and as exasperating on the Chi
ma plains as anywhere else, and al
though not as alert as are mosquitoe
In some quarters in getting out of tn
way of stroke, he is so like the pop
ulation of China that the loss of
few multitudes, more or less, doesn
count. From his slowness in sid
stepping to avoid blow, it may
inferred that the native has too man
other pest troubles to pay any atter
ton to him to else the mosquito
dainty taste makes him partial to i'm
ported goods. At any rate, he is mos
persistent in his attentions and so ter
acious of purpose that the sooner on
yields and lets him bite and get ava
the sooner comes peace in that quar-
} ter.
If these were all the pests the
J | might be endured, but when the CHI
nese went away they left their dog
and. cats behind, and there are myriad
of them. In the day time they may b
seen everywhere-gaunt,d dirty, starve
! but silent. They prowl among tn
ruined dwellings and through tn
streets. looking for bite of anythin
that will fill and finding only ashe
; and fallen walls. The soldiers hay
\ killed hundreds of them. without an
. perceptible effect on their number
Z Bodies of men shot in the streets loo
= now and then as if the household an
= mails had sampled them and had M
. cared for exhaustive research, but OIL
= erwise. they have gone unfed, exce]
with what they could steal, since IL
. troops came.
9 Those that have lurked in hiding
- day time come out at night, join Il
street crowd of their kind, and aft
caucuses more or less stormy, lastir
until the camps sound taps, they d
In vide into foraging parties and sep
W Rota