178 BLUEFIELDS. 



the nits would escape into the wound, and produce a 

 dreadful ulcer; such, however, is the skill of the 

 sable practitioners, that it very rarely occurs. The 

 negroes talk of two kinds, the White and the Poison 

 Jigger. Mine was of the latter kind ; and therefore 

 a little grease was rubbed into the empty cavity, 

 after the operation. 



The insect, when removed, on being subjected to 

 examination with a lens, greatly resembles a dis^ 

 tended Tick {Ixodes) ; white and shining ; there is 

 this dissimilarity, however, that whereas in a Tick 

 the little feet are pushed apart in the process of dis- 

 tension, and are scattered widely around the swollen 

 abdomen, in the Jigger they remain close together in 

 the centre ; in other words, the skin of the abdomen 

 between the bases of the feet is expansible in the 

 former, and not in the latter. The feet sprawl help- 

 lessly after extraction. 



The presence of a Jigger beneath the skin, during 

 the process of its gradual increase, is commonly de- 

 scribed as a titillation, rather pleasing than painful. 

 This does not at all agree with my experience. I on 

 no occasion felt any itching, but, as soon as I became 

 conscious of any sensation at all, a dull pain with 

 tension, somewhat like the rising of a small boil, 

 which increased until the cause was removed by 

 extraction. 



THE SMOOTH SHEATH-CLAW. 



June 3rd. — Coming down from Bluefields Peak 

 about noon, my attention was attracted to two of 



