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132 DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 



sweats, and slight vomitings: but, notwithstanding this, 

 she found so much pleasure in tormenting these poor 

 animals, that nothing could cure her of this madness, till 

 she met with the following accident : The legs of one of 

 these unhappy spiders happened to stick in the candle, 

 so that it could not disengage itself; and, the body at 

 length bursting, the venom was ejaculated into the eyes 

 and upon the lips of its persecutrix. In consequence of 

 this, one of the former became inflamed, the latter swelled 

 excessively, even the tongue and gums were slightly af- 

 fected, and a continual vomiting attended these symptoms. 

 In spite of every remedy the swelling of the lips con- 

 tinued to increase, till at length an old woman, by the 

 simple application for fifteen days of the leaves and juice 

 of plantain, together with some spider's web, ran away 

 with all the glory of the cure*. Ulloa gives us a re- 

 markable account of a species of spider, or perhaps mite, 

 of a,fiery red colour, common in Popayan, called Coy a 

 or Coylci) and usually found in the corners of walls and 

 among the herbage, the venom of which is of such ma- 

 lignity, that on crushing the insect, if any fall on the skin 

 of either man or beast, it immediately penetrates into 

 the flesh, and causes large tumours, which are soon suc- 

 ceeded by death. Yet, he further observes, if it be 

 crushed between the palms of the hands, which are 

 usually callous, no bad consequence ensues. People who 

 travel along the valleys of the Neyba, where these insects 

 abound, are warned by their Indian attendants, if they 

 feel any thing stinging them, or crawling on their neck or 

 face, not so much as to lift up their hand to the place, 

 the texture of the Coya being so delicate that the least 

 force causes them to burst, without which there is no 



a Amoreux, 210-212. 



