CHAP. XXXI.] INSECT PLAGUES. 251 



suffered, and were completely covered with little red 

 swollen specks, which tormented me horribly. On arriving 

 here we were delighted to find the house free from sand- 

 flies or mosquitoes, but in the plantations where my daily 

 walks led me, the day-biting mosquitoes swarmed, and 

 seemed especially to delight in attacking my poor feet. 

 After a month's incessant punishment, those useful 

 members rebelled against such treatment and broke into 

 open insurrection, throwing out numerous inflamed ulcers, 

 which were very painful, and stopped me from walking. 

 So I found myself confined to the house, and with no 

 immediate prospect of leaving it. Wounds or sores in 

 the feet are especially difficult to heal in hot climates, and 

 I therefore dreaded them more than any other illness. The 

 confinement was very annoying, as the fine hot weather 

 was excellent for insects, of which I had every promise of 

 obtaining a fine collection ; and it is only by daily and 

 unremitting search that the smaller kinds, and the rarer 

 and more interesting specimens, can be obtained. When I 

 crawled down to the river-side to bathe, I often saw the 

 blue-winged Papilio ulysses, or some other equally rare and 

 beautiful insect ; but there was nothing for it but patience, 

 and to return quietly to my bird-skinning, or whatever 

 other work I had indoors. The stings and bites and 

 ceaseless irritation caused by these pests of the tropical 

 forests, would be borne uncomplainingly ; but to be kept 



