S60 TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 



were soldered before they were sent away. With- 

 out are numberless enemies, not to mention the 

 savage ounce, the poisonous serpents, lizards, scor- 

 pions, centipes, and spiders, which are fortunately 

 not frequently met with, and only wound a person 

 when provoked : the mite (acarus), called caroba- 

 tos, is one of the most formidable plagues. These 

 little animals, from the size of a poppy-seed to that 

 of a linseed, live in societies, and crowded by hun- 

 dreds in the grass and on dry leaves. As soon as 

 the traveller touches such a plant, they very quick- 

 ly penetrate through his clothes to the skin, where 

 they eat in, particularly in the more tender parts, 

 and cause an intolerable itching, which is incj'eased 

 by the inevitable rubbing, and in the end produces 

 an inflamed blister. The securest remedy imme- 

 diately to get rid of these teasing enemies is to 

 pick them off from the skin, or if they have not 

 already eaten too far in, to kill them by rubbing 

 with brandy, or with tobacco infused in water, or 

 by fumigating with tobacco over the fire. Only 

 those who have themselves experienced this evil, so 

 common in the torrid zone, can form an idea of 

 the sufferings to which the naturalist, who is con- 

 stantly in the open air, is exposed. Happily all 

 these inconveniences are of such a nature that they 

 may be greatly diminished, if not wholly removed, 

 by a knowledge of the country, and the application 

 of approved remedies. With the increasing popu- 

 lation and cultivation of the country they will gra- 



