An umbrella for a scarecrow
Was in a corn field placed,
And with loud caws the sly old crows
Around it gravely paced;
When suddenly a shower fell,
And under it they went,
And staid until the rain had ceased,
As in a little tent.
Then said they, as they all trooped out,
"_That_ man's a jolly feller;
Not only plants the corn for us,
But lends us his umbreller!"
* * * * *
=The Paradise of Insects.=--None but those who have travelled on the
Upper Amazons can have any idea of the number and voracity of the insect
torments which work their wicked will on the bodies of the unfortunates
exposed to their attacks. The "sancudos," or small sand-flies, form by
far the most important section. In the villages, round which the forest
is cleared away for some distance, the sancudos are generally pretty
quiet during the day, except where darkness prevails: there they are
ever busy, and are a perfect plague. The triumphant note of a sancudo
which has made his way under your curtains is more annoying than even
his bite; and should you have been careless in getting into bed, and
been accompanied by two or three of these blood-suckers, we will defy
you to sleep until you have exterminated them.
In the forest and on the river the sancudos are always busy. Men
sometimes get into the vessel's tops, and there cover themselves with
sacks, notwithstanding the heat, rather than remain below exposed to
their attacks. Fortunately they can not stand a current of air, and so
when under way the vessel is comparatively free from them, but when at
anchor these pests are something awful. To get rid of them is next to
impossible. Creosote will keep them off, but the remedy is as bad as the
disease. Whitewash will drive them away, but when dry its power ceases;
and the only thing to do is either to cover all exposed parts of the
body with black pigment _à la mode Indienne_, or else to "grin and bear
it."
Scarcely less troublesome than the sancudos are the mosquitoes, although
they have the negative merit of biting only by day. They are minute
creatures, not much larger than a pin's head; they prefer the backs of
the hands to any other spot for their attacks. But, unlike the sancudo,
which, when undisturbed, gorges himself until unable to fly, and becomes
an easy prey to your avenging finger, the mosquito never seems to take
too much to prevent his easy escape on the slightest appearance of
danger, being evidently just as wide-awake when full as when empty.
Everywhere in long grass lurks the "moquim," a little red insect so
small as to be almost imperceptible, but which fastens on the legs,
causing the most intolerable itching.
There is a fly which burrows in the skin and deposits an egg, both in
human beings and animals. This produces a maggot, similar in shape to
that of the common blow-fly, but much larger, probably analogous to the
Guinea-worm.
Then there are "chigos," which burrow mostly in the soles of the feet.
You feel an intense itching, and on examination find a little thing like
a pea just under the epidermis; this is the bag containing the young
chigos, which must be carefully picked out with the point of a knife,
and the cavity left filled with tobacco ash.
Huge spiders abound, whose very appearance inspires a wholesome dread of
a nearer acquaintance, but which are harmless enough if let alone. In
fact, on board the steamers, almost every cabin is tenanted by one large
spider, whose presence is tolerated on account of his being a deadly foe
to cockroaches, which abominable creatures swarm on board. Sometimes he
is not visible for a fortnight or more at a time; but he leaves tokens
of "having been there," in the shape of the empty husks of cockroaches,
from which he has carefully abstracted the interior. These spiders have
the power of springing upon their prey from a distance, and some of them
are so large and powerful as to kill and devour small birds.
In passing through the narrow forest paths it is necessary to be on the
look-out for the wood-ticks, which are very difficult to get rid of if
once firmly attached; also for the huge black ants, an inch and a half
in length, with stings like a hornet's; and the saüba ant, without
sting, but armed with nippers like a pair of surgical bone-forceps,
which are running about everywhere. One may sometimes chance upon a
column of the dreaded "fire-ants," marching in regular military order;
and if he does, the only thing is to bolt at once, for neither man nor
beast may withstand the fire-ant and live. When at length the traveller
stops to rest, he must take care to examine the camping ground to see
that neither centipede nor scorpion is there.
Frequently both centipedes and scorpions are found on the steamers,
introduced, no doubt, in the wood used for fuel. One day, while the
writer was watching the hands taking wood from canoes alongside, from
one of the logs pitched on board was dislodged a scorpion, which fell on
the naked left arm of a man keeping tally at the gangway. Astonished by
his sudden flight through the air, the animal remained perfectly still.
The man never moved a muscle, and quietly raising his right hand,
flipped it away with his fingers and thumb. It was very neatly and
coolly done; and he thus escaped a sting, which he no doubt would have
received had he tried to brush it hastily away.