ONSLAUGHT OF WASPS. 203 



beast : their sting is very painful ; much 

 more so than the common scorpion, for it 

 goes much deeper. 



A friend of mind, riding an excellent quiet 

 mule, stopped one day under a lime-tree to 

 pick some fruit : he had hardly given a couple 

 of shakes to the tree when a swarm of wasps 

 issued forth and attacked man and mule. 

 There was nothing to be done but to gallop 

 for it, the wasps following them over a sa- 

 vannah some hundreds of yards across; when 

 the mule, on arriving at the edge of the next 

 wood, quite mad with pain, made a dash into 

 the underwood to brush off his winged foes. 

 The consequence was that my friend, what 

 with the stings, and the bruises he received 

 by being carried, against his inclination, 

 through the covert, was laid up for some 

 time, and the mule suffered much for several 

 days. 



Another incident will shew that they will 

 attack sometimes without any provocation. 

 A fine young mule was tied up inside my 

 *' coral," near the ranchos, where there was 

 not a wasp's nest near. On returning home 

 from hunting in the afternoon, I saw the 

 mule lying on the ground, and by her groans 

 and struggles shewed she was in great pain. 



