EXPLANATORY INDEX. 380 



small pea, which has to be extracted with a needle, an opera- 

 tion giving a considerable amount of pain. 



" I remarked to Ben in a casual way, ' Surely the natives 

 have some way of getting rid of these insects 1 just think 

 the matter over in your mind, and don't lose sight of the 

 fact that it depends upon you whether we sleep in the moist 

 swamp to-night, or under this good roof. 



" He proposed two ways of performing the operation, one 

 was to ' bun them,' as he called it, and the other was to 

 sweep them out. I seized upon both ideas ; we would burn 

 them first, and sweep out their roasted carcases afterwards. 



" Fortunately there was a heap of dry palm-lea,ves in the 

 house, of which a few bunches were made into brooms, and 

 the rest scattered over the floor. If any one had been looking 

 at us from a short distance when performing this operation, 

 he would have come to the conclusion that we were both de- 

 mented, from the way in which we skipped about, darting 

 out every now and then to brush ofi our enemies from our 

 clothes. Then we set fire to the leaves, and had the whole 

 place covered with flames a foot in height — a grand and satis- 

 factory though short-lived flare-up. At this stage of the 

 proceedings we were reinforced by Pedro and Vincente, who, 

 on the subsiding of the flames, swept out the residuary mat- 

 ter, composed of carcases, ashes, and dust. After the crusade 

 was over, a few hundreds of the enemy were left, but these we 

 did not mind. 



"It IS a curious and sad fact, as I have always found to 

 my cost, than when Indians leave their houses for a time the 

 dust on the floors becomes infested with jiggers and fleas. The 

 former come from the eggs dropped from the jigger egg -bags 

 in the toes of both Indians and their dogs, and the latter 

 from eggs dropped by the fleas of the dogs." 



The " nest " of the Chigoe is in reality the swollen body of 

 the female, which contains the eggs, and becomes as large in 

 proportion to the head, thorax, and limbs, as does that of the 

 queen termite. In common with most noxious insects, such. 



