92 VAG-VAGUES. 



" The negroes also pointed out to me a consider- 

 able number of the stars that form the chief con- 

 stellations, besides most of the planets, wherewith 

 they were well acquainted. Nay, they went so 

 far as to distinguish the oscillations of the stars, 

 which began at that time to be visible to the eye. 

 It is amazing that such a rude and illiterate people 

 should reason so pertinently in regard to those 

 heavenly bodies, for there is no manner of doubt 

 that with proper instruments and a good will they 

 would become excellent astronomers, by reason 

 that they live in a climate that enjoys a clear sky 

 almost the year round." 



More annoying even than the stings of the mos- 

 quitoes were a species of white ant, called vag- 

 vague, abounding in the Island of Goree, where our 

 naturalist lodged some months in a straw hut. " I 

 should have thought myself pretty well off," says 

 he, " had these insects attacked only the reeds of 

 my habitation, but they pierced through a trunk, 

 which stood on trestles a foot above the ground, 

 and gnawed most of my books. Even my bed was 

 not spared ; and though I took care every evening 

 to break down the galleries they constructed, yet 

 they were frequently erected again during the night 

 up to my bolster, and the vag-vagues got into the 

 bed, where, after cutting the linen and mattress, 

 they came to my flesh, and bit me most cruelly. 



