70 The Wild Animals of Palestine. 



that of a lady being stung on the shoulder while dressing. She 

 applied Ipecuanha powder instantly, and though her shoulder 

 ■was stiff and painful for a day or two she suffered no constitu- 

 tional disturbance. Scorpions had a way sometimes of 

 getting into your slippers, but you were all right if you 

 remembered to give them a good shake before you put 

 them on. Centipedes were far uglier reptiles, black and 

 yellow atrocities, often 8 to 10 inches long, and, including their 

 countless legs, about the breadth of the blade of a small dinner 

 knife. As to the exact nature of their venom I cannot positively 

 speak. The Arabs declared that if one was on you, and you 

 irritated it, it stuck all its hundred claws into you, and could 

 only then be torn off piecemeal, unless you had patience to wait 

 for a piece of heated metal to run along the back, when it 

 would involuntarily draw back all its claws. But then Arab 

 stories have to be received with caution, as the Arab always 

 tries to tell you something he thinks will interest you, and 

 invents something on the spot if he has nothing true on hand. 

 Lizards abounded in Palestine from the large horney scaled ones 

 of, I believe, the Iguana or Monitor species down to the small 

 ones often seen in this country. Those which I think are foreign 

 to us were geckos and chameleons. The geckos, though harmless, 

 are objectionable, because they infest the houses, and the suckers 

 with which their feet are provided enable them to run about on 

 the ceilings, which always gives you the impression they are 

 going to drop on your head. The chameleons are the most 

 interesting of all the lizard tribe, with their marvellous power of 

 taking the colour of any substance they are on, This is, of 

 course, their special protection, for they are exceedingly slow in 

 movement. The change is not instantaneous, but very complete. 

 One "which lived for a long time in a pomegranate tree in our 

 court was bright green, or dark brown, according to whether he 

 was among the foliage or on the trunk of the tree. But the 

 most remarkable change I ever remember seeing was in one we 

 found when out walking, and carried into the city tied up in a 

 white handkerchief. When the handkerchief was opened there 

 was the most ghastly, dirty white creature imaginable, looking 

 as though all his blood had been sucked by a vampire. 



