52 ROUGHING IT IN SOUTHERN INDIA 



sitting under a shady tree watching for a panther that we 

 knew to be about ; we had not been there long, however, 

 before a very awful sensation of crawling, burning, tingling, 

 everything that is dreadful, made us forget all about the 

 panther, and on looking round for the cause of our troubles 

 we found that the tree and the grass beneath it were alive 

 with armies of these hairy caterpillars. There was nothing 

 for it but to go back to the bungalow and take off every 

 thread of clothing, putting it aside to be burnt for fear of 

 any one picking it up unawares, and all that being safely 

 disposed of, try to rid ourselves of the hairs — no easy task. 

 Wherever the caterpillars alight, on your neck or ears, or 

 effect an entry under your clothes, they will crawl unfelt 

 at first, then wind their way into your very innermost 

 apparel, shedding hairs as they go. There is only one 

 remedy, just less unpleasant than the presence of the hairs, 

 and that is to draw them out by dropping hot wax wherever 

 they are upon you, letting it cool, and then cracking it off, 

 when the hairs will come away with it ; but it must be very 

 carefully done, and is not an easy job. As can be imagined, 

 our plight was not a pleasant one ; we felt as if stung all 

 over as well as slightly burnt, too, with the wax. Moreover, 

 being at that place only for the day, we had no complete 

 change of clothing, and had to send for more by express 

 messenger, on horseback, to Ooty, twelve or fourteen miles 

 away. 



Another creature causing some inconvenience, though 

 of a trifling nature compared with that produced by the 

 caterpillar just described, was a persistent little beetle of the 

 lady-bird sort — the green-bug as it is called, though it is 

 without any disagreeable attributes such as its name might 

 imply. So numerous was it in some places that lids of fine 

 basketwork or silver for tumblers and wine-glasses were 

 necessary adjuncts to the table when we were dining out 

 of doors or in camp. The lamplight attracted them in such 



