KARROO BEASTS, BIRDS AND REPTILES. 259 



invade the house, and make themselves at home in a 

 manner which is free and easy rather than pleasant. 

 Legions of venomous centipedes, scorpions, and big, 

 bristly-legged spiders of the tarantula tribe lurk in 

 the old reed ceilings; from whence they drop playfully 

 down now and then, to the consternation of the un- 

 wary inmate sitting beneath, on whose head or book 

 they chance to land. Or, if they do not drop down 

 on you, they lie in wait about the room in well-chosen 

 points of vantage, where their sudden discovery is sure 

 to give you a horrid jump, even if you are lucky 

 enough to fjet off without a venomous bite or stins:. 



One evening, as I was getting ready for bed — 

 oblivious for once of cautious habits acquired, years 

 before, in that land of "jiggers," the West Indies, 

 where you never venture to walk slippei'less, even 

 across your bedroom — my bare foot suddenly en- 

 countered what seemed like the point of a red-hot 

 needle sticking straight up out of the floor; and, 

 looking down, I found that I had trodden on a scorpion. 

 Fortunately, it was not one of the large black ones, 

 which are the most venomous, but only a light-coloured 

 specimen, about two inches and a half in length. It 



was, however, quite bad enough ; and although T 



recklessly poured away over the foot our whole photo- 

 graphic supply of ammonia, and made me drink the 

 greater part ot* a bottle of strong Cape wine in the 

 hope of neutralizing the poison — though, alas ! only 

 producing other and sad results — it was many hours 

 before that red-hot needle showed any signs of cooling 



