THE CHIGOE. 315 



causing any pain. There is a slight irritation, rather pleasing 

 than otherwise, to which a novice pays no attention, but which 

 puts an experienced person on his guard at once. 



The male Chigoe is innocent of causing any direct injury to 

 man, the female being the cause of all the mischief. As soon 

 as she is settled, her abdomen begins to swell until it becomes 

 quite globular, and of great comparative size, and containing a 

 vast quantity of tiny eggs. Pain is now felt by the victim, who 

 generally has recourse to the skilful old dames, who have a kind 

 of monopoly of extracting Chigoe ' nests.' With a needle, they 

 carefully work round the globular body of the buried insect, 

 taking great care not to break it, as if a single egg remains in 

 the wound, all the trouble is wasted. By degrees they gently 

 eject the intruder, and exhibit the unbroken sac of eggs with 

 great glee. To prevent accidents, however, the wound is filled 

 with a little Scotch snuff, which certainly causes rather a sharp 

 smarting sensation, but effectually destroys any egg or young 

 insect that may perchance have escaped notice. 



Europeans and natives of the better caste escape easily 

 enough, because they always take warning by the first intima- 

 tion of a Chigoe's attack, and generally succeed in killing her 

 before she has succeeded in burying herself Moreover, the 

 shoes and stockings of civilised man protect his feet, and the 

 gloves guard his hands, so that the insect does not find many 

 opportunities of attacking the white man. 



But the negroes, and especially the children, suffer terribly 

 from the Chigoe. Children never are very apt at sacrificing the 

 present to the future, and the negro child is perhaps in this 

 particular the least apt of all humanity. The Chigoe is in con- 

 sequence seldom disturbed until it has made good its entrance, 

 and even then would not be mentioned by the child, on account 

 of the pain which he knows is in store for him. But the expe- 

 rienced eyes of the matrons are constantly directed to the feet 

 of their children, and if one of them is seen to hold his toes off 

 the ground as he walks, he is immediately captured and carried 

 off to the operator, uttering dismal yells of apprehension. 

 He certainly has good reason for his fears. The Chigoe nest 



