The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1909-02-04
Province Life in the Philippines

sect life After lighting-up time, myr-
lads of winged creatures swarm through
open doors and windows. from the tiniest
to enormous beetles which bang about
the walls and often bring me to my feet
with ashriek as they hit against my head
, and fall to the floor. In the morning one
must always brush up painful Of the
singed bodies; or better still, as we learn
ed, allow our little friends the house liz
ards to come down from the walls to the
table during the evening and ''police" it
all up clearly for us. These little fell
lows of from two to four inches in length
are never molested and become very
tame, doing much to assist in obviating
the insect nuisance.
The father of this numerous progeny,
old "Tige,' and his wife, have had their
home in the corner of the caves for some
years.
used often to find small white eggs
in out-of- the-way hooks and crannies,
which greatly excited my curiosity as to
how and when a little bird could have
placed them there; and not until one fell
at my feet, burst open, and there before
my astonished eyes a tiny baby lizard
wriggled out and away into a crack, did
learn the origin of the pretty white
eggs.
In playing over the walls and ceilings
little fellow sometimes falls to the floor
breaking the long slender tail off close to
the body, when he goes into retirement
for few days, appearing later as chip
per as ever, with a new tail sprouted,
which gives him most incongruous APP
pearance during it's growth, it being
different shade altogether from the little
spotted body. We tolerate old "Tige"
more particularly on account of his an
tipathy for and destruction of cent?
pedes which have fond desire to oc
cupy our homes and beds with US. We
never fail to examine and shake out
our bedding each night, and tuck the en-
veloping mosquito net closely in. With
this care one seldom gets bitten, and the
poison anyway is not nearly SO serious as
from the centipedes of Texas and Ariz-
ona, being no more painful than bee
sting.
You ask why do we not have windows
and doors screened as protection against
all this insect life? l asked that same
question OF first arriving here; but it is
a fact that screened house is very
hot house, so screens are seldom used In
the tropics. The presence of house flies
are almost unknown here, in this locality
at least, which makes it much easier to
do without the screens.
There is one species of lizard in the
islands which we do not desire any close
acquaintance with; though we have known
of but one instance where one showed
dangerous inclination to fight, their pre-
dehction being for chickens.
One of these lizards lived under the
bakeshop, and one day a pan of water
was poured down the hole, and as | hap
pened to be looking from my door at the
time, saw big fellow about four feet
in length and standing high on long
legs, running like dog through the
grass heading directly for my back yard;
a half dozen laughing, shouting bakers
and others armed with clubs, bread
knives and hatchets, in hot pursuit In
great excitement sprang for weapon,
but on seeing me the horrid looking
creature turned in another direction, and
FIN al ba ha1c o,,I
grove beyond. The natives capture them
by lassooing, and roasted or barbecued
they are considered delicious feast.
In Samar one similar to this stood up
and was climbing in the back window of
the commissary storeroom, and when
attacked fought fercely and viciously,
requiring several shots from heavy
Colts revolver to vanquish it; but then,
one expects to find almost anything down
in Samar. There are boa constructors
twenty feet long, and giant centipedes
My husband and the ''hombres" killed
one a foot long and black as jet, that
was having its home under some crates
on the earth floor of one of the store
rooms.
Ants prove the greatest nuisance, and
they come in all sizes and colors, both
running and flying. The white ants are
the most destructive, as they eat wood,
undermining timbers, floors and furni-
ture, while the small red and the huge
black ants infest every spot both out
doors and in, the different factions wag-
ing fierce battles as to gaining possession
of the ice box, closets and food boxes.
have watched many such battles and
find the red ant always victor. Though
they are so small they are very spry, and
spring onto their more clumsy adversa-
ries, biting and singing them to death,
sometimes leaving hundreds of the big
black fellows disabled and dying on the
back porch close by food placed there for
the dog
The only remedy for this pest is coal
oil, and plenty of it. The hardwood floors
are wiped once week in oil by the