240 THE CHEGOE. 
and, on taking a nearer view of the part, you per- 
ceive that the skin is somewhat discolovred. 
I know it is supposed by some people, that the 
accounts concerning the chegoe have been much 
exaggerated. Iam not of this way of thinking, for 
I myself have smarted under its attacks; and I have 
minutely inspected the foot of a negro, which was 
a mass of ulcers, formed entirely by the ee 5 
ravages of the chegoe. 
Guiana is the native country of this insect. In 
that hot and humid region, which is replete with 
every thing that can please our imagination, or 
administer to our wants, we must not be surprised 
to find here and there some little drawback; some 
few obstructions in our way; some thorny plants to 
impede our journey as we wander on. 
The chegoe resembles a flea: and, had you just 
come out of a dovecot, on seeing it upon your skin, 
you might easily mistake it for a small pigeon flea; 
although, upon a closer inspection, you would sur- 
mise that it is not capable of taking those amazingly 
elastic bounds, so notorious in the flea of Europe. 
Not content with merely paying you a visit, and 
then taking itself off again, as is the custom of most 
insects, this insidious miner contrives to work its 
way quite under your skin, and there remains to 
rear a numerous progeny. I once had the curiosity 
to watch the movements of a chegoe on the back of 
my hand, a part not usually selected by it to form a 
settlement. It worked ‘its way pretty rapidly for 
so small an insect. In half an hour it had bored 
quite through the skin, and was completely out of 
