158 



WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA. 



tea. This was tlie poison, which is so dreadful in its 

 effects, as to render the labarri snake one of the most 

 poisonous in the forests of Guiana. I once caught a 

 fine laharri, and made it bite itself. I forced the 

 poisonous fang into its belly. In a few minutes I 

 thought it was going to die, for it appeared dull and 

 heavy. However, in half an hour's time, he was as 

 brisk and vigorous as ever, and in the course of the day 

 showed no symptoms of being affected. Is then the life 

 of the snake proof against its own poison ? This subject 

 is not unworthy of the consideration of the naturalist. 



The Bete- Guiaua there is a little insect in the 



rouge. grass, and on the shrubs, which the French 

 call Eete-rouge. It is of a beautiful scarlet colour, 

 and so minute, that you must bring your eye close 

 to it before you can perceive it. It is most numerous 

 in the rainy season. Its bite causes an intolerable 

 itching. The best way to get rid of it, is to rub the 

 part affected with oil or rum. You must be careful 

 not to scratch it. If you do so, and break the skin, 

 you expose yourself to a sore. The first year I was 

 in Guiana, the bete-rouge, and my own want of know- 

 ledge, and, I may add, the little attention I paid to it, 

 created an ulcer above the ankle, which annoyed me for 

 six months, and if I hobbled out into the grass, a 

 number of bete-rouge would settle on the edges of the 

 sore, and increase the inflammation. 



The Still more inconvenient, painful, and an- 



Chegoe. noying is another little pest, called the 

 Chegoe. It looks exactly like a very small flea, and a 

 stranger would take it for one. However, in about 

 four and twenty hours, he would have several broad 

 hints that he had made a mistake in his ideas of the 



