BOYS, INSECTS, AND CHICKENS 



till only the outside shell is left. If they get into 

 a house they spoil the furniture, or books or boxes ; 

 and as they are always hidden, they may not be 

 discovered till some substantial-looking piece of 

 furniture gives way, though perfect to look at, 

 being hollow inside. Paraffin is the most useful 

 stuff with which to destroy them. They get into 

 the flower-beds in the garden and destroy the roots, 

 and the only thing to be done is to dig till you find 

 the queen ant, as when she is taken they go. She 

 is a very large size indeed, and reminded me of 

 some one's bottled appendix more than anything 

 else, and about the same size. At the top of the 

 stone house in which we lived in Zanzibar there 

 was a wood-and-tin room built on to the roof; 

 somehow, these little pests found their way up to 

 the top, and in a night ate half my matting on the 

 floor. When we raised the matting there were 

 hundreds, and before they could escape we admin- 

 istered paraffin oil, which stopped them effectually ; 

 but too late to save my matting. The natives of 

 Uganda eat them with relish, mixing them with 

 dough. The stick insects fascinated me ; their 

 bodies, when still, were so exactly like dry twigs, it 

 was difficult to tell the difference without a close 

 inspection. 



I went in for rearing chickens, but the native 

 chicken is very small indeed, so a lady gave me 



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