318 December 



had hung all the fummer locked up in a fhrinev 

 and had not been taken care of, quite cut thro' 

 by thefe worms, fo that whole pieces fell out. 

 Furs, which had been kept in the garret, were 

 frequently fo ruined by worms, that the hair went 

 off by handfuls. I am, however, not certain 

 whether thefe worms were originally in the coun- 

 try, or whether they were brought over from 

 Europe. 



FLEAS are like wife to be found in this part of 

 the world. Many thoufands were undoubtedly 

 brought over from other countries ; yet immenfe 

 numbers of them have certainly been here fince 

 time immemorial. I have feen them on the grey 

 fquirrels, and on the hares which have been kill- 

 ed in fuch defart parts of this countrv, where no 

 human creature ever lived. As I afterwards* 

 came farther up into the country, and was o- 

 bliged to lie at night in the huts and beds of the 

 Indians, I was fo plagued by immenfe quantities 

 of fleasy that I imagined I was put to the tor- 

 ture. They drove me from the bed, and I was 

 very glad to fleep on the benches below the roof 

 of the huts. But it is eafy to conceive that the 

 many dogs which the Indians keep, breed fleas 

 without end. Dogs and men lie promifcuoufly 

 in the huts ; and a ftf anger can hardly lie down 

 and ihut his eyes, but he is in danger of being 

 either fqueezed to death, or fiifled, by a dozen or 

 more dogs, which lie round him, and upon him* 

 in order to have a good refting- place. For I ima- 

 gine they do not exped that Grangers will ven- 

 ture to beat them, or throw them off, as their 

 mafters and miftreffes commonly do. 



THE noify Crickets (Grylius Jhmejlicus) which 



are 



