I56 CAMPS IN THE CARIBBEES. 



it back with a tremor of horror. It had come in contact 

 with the biggest bug in the world. Its back seemed 

 hard as iron, and its mandibles were as long as my 

 fingers. I had always boasted my immunity from bed- 

 bugs, and that the greatest army of them could not 

 make me afraid. But now they were coming to con- 

 vince me of my mistake. I could hear them burrowing 

 through the leaves, could feel them crawling over me, 

 and, unable to endure it longer, sprang up with a cry 

 and rushed out into the open air. The perspiration 

 rolled off me, and my hands twitched nervously, for I 

 was pretty thoroughly frightened. At my command, 

 my boys lighted a torch and examined the leaves ; and 

 when they drew out three huge beetles almost as large 

 as my hand, and I stood regarding them with horror, 

 they burst into fits of laughter. 



"Ah! Monsieur very fear, he 'fraid jumbie, he 

 'fraid razor-minder." 



"What do you call them? " 



" Person say he f razor-grinder. '" 



" Does he grind razors ? " 



"Oh, no ! mat's he make noise like he make to grind." 



" Hark zat noise ! " said Meyong, raising his hand to 

 command silence. Through the forest came a sharp, 

 whizzing sound, like that produced by the wheel of 

 the perambulating razor and knife grinder. 



"Zat make by heself.*' 



"How does he make it?" 



His answer was to this effect : The beetle is pro- 

 vided with two long mandibles, articulating like the 

 thumb and forefinger, placed immediately above the 

 mouth. They are smooth and hard, and furnished 

 with protuberances, or notched, while the upper man- 



