JUNGLE LIFE 71 



and through stagnant swamps, and return th'ed, perhaps 

 exhausted, but safe and sound in body, hmb and skin. 



As I have written many times before, the greatest dan- 

 ger of tropical jungles is from falling vegetation, nuts, seeds, 

 leaves and trees tliemselves. But to deny oneself the enjoy- 

 ment of this wonderful world of life for such a reason, would 

 be exactly equivalent to avoid going out on the streets of 

 New York because automobiles kill on an average of one 

 person a day. I never saw a person killed by a falling nut 

 or tree, but I have occasionally heard these crashing down, 

 and have seen nuts like cannon-balls embed themselves in 

 the soft mold. In a recent official report of deaths among 

 gold diggers in the interior of the colony, an equal number 

 ■ — five — was reported from malaria and from falling trees. 



Our work doubtless lay in a particularly favorable lo- 

 cality, but in my experiences in tropical jungles both in the 

 Far East and in South America, I would substitute the 

 word inconveniences for dangers. In Bartica district, for 

 month after month, mosquitos and flies were practically ab- 

 sent. Throughout the dry and the rainy seasons we waded 

 swamps and pools and saw fewer mosquitos than came into 

 mj^ room in a single night in Georgetown or New York, and 

 these few were neither Anopleles nor Stegomyia. Bete 

 rouge was abundant and enthusiastic, although not worse 

 than on some parts of Long Island and never nearly as bad 

 as I have known them on the coast of Virginia. Crab oil is 

 a preventive, and a saturated salt solution an effective cure. 

 Jiggers and ticks were absent. Twice we were stung by 

 small wasps and many times by angry ants. At Kalacoon 

 House we slept without nets, but at first kept a lantern burn- 

 ing low. This effectively prevented molestation from vam- 

 pires which were abundant and flew freely through the house. 

 Later we dispensed with the light, but were never molested. 

 Perai were common in the river, but everyone hereabouts 

 bathed, and there was no record of a person having been 

 bitten. Howes and I were once charged by a jaguar within 



