62 BULLETIN 13&_, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



they say that they bite severely, and the part of the skin affected by 

 their bite becomes Hke that of a leper." ^^ 



The Indians of French Guiana made a fumigation to drive away 

 snakes by burning cottonseeds over the coals." 



A writer in le Congo Illustre figures a company of Niam-Niam or 

 Monbutto harvesting termites by means of fire. At the commence- 

 ment of the rainy season they eat nothing else. Weeks ahead they 

 pick out the nest on which to operate. They dig at the base of the 

 cone a hole a foot wide and several feet deep. They then make a 

 pile of torches from herbages, and by means of these they overcome 

 the insects, not specially lively at this time.^^* 



The Piute of Mono Lake, California, use the larvae of a saturnid 

 moth as food. At certain times the larvae descend from the trees and 

 are caught in a trench in which fire is put,^" 



Regarding stinging ants in Borneo, William Henry Furness says; 



"Just as we were about to turn in for the night a broad procession 

 of thousands of them, every one with its vicious little tail turned 

 defiantly up, began a diabolical march across our floor of bark. The 

 natives, however, immediately built a small fire directly in their path, 

 which at once caused, first, a stampede of the vanguard, and then all 

 the rest tiu-ned tail, and still in quadruple or sextuple file, retreated 

 somewhat more rapidly than they had advanced, and at last all dis- 

 appeared under the leaves on the ground outside."®^ 



The Chinese kill mosquitos with a lamp shaped like a pitcher, 

 having an opening in one side. The insects go in with the draught 

 and are burned on the flame. 



The custom of driving game by fire is found in many places all 

 over the world. 



In Virginia: "At their huntings in the desert they are commonly 

 two or three hundred together. H aving found the Deere, they envison 

 them with many fires and betwixt the fires they place themselves. 

 And some take their stands in the midsts. The Deere being thus 

 feared by the fires, and their voyces, they chase them so long within 

 that circle, that many times they kill 6, 8, 10, or 15 at a hunting." ^^ 



The Plains Indians accomplished this indirectly, as may be seen 

 from the following quotation: 



"Every spring the plains are set on fire and the buffalo are tempted 

 to cross the river in search of the fresh grass which immediately suc- 

 ceeds the burning. On their way they are often isolated on a large 



« J. R. Swanton. Bull. 78, Bur. Amer. Ethnol., 1922, p. 345. 

 "Ee Tour du Monde, vol. 40, p. 1021e; vol. 64, p. 76. 

 » Congo Illustre, July 2, 1895, p. 112. 



«« Article by J. M. Aldrich. Journ. New York Entomological Society, vol. 21, March, 1912, p. 1, and 

 information by writer. 

 •' The Home Life of Borneo Head Hunters, Philadelphia, 1902, p. 177. 

 M Arber's Capt. John Smith Works, 1608-1631, London, 1884, pp. 365-366. 



