240 



THE CHEGOE. 



and, on taking a nearer view of the part, you per- 

 ceive that the skin is somewhat discoloured. 



I know it is supposed by some people, that the 

 accounts concerning the chegoe have been much 

 exaggerated. I am not of this way of thinking, for 

 I myself have smarted under its attacks ; and I have 

 minutely inspected the foot of a negro, which was 

 a mass of ulcers, formed entirely by the neglected 

 ravages of the chegoe. 



Guiana is the native country of this insect. In 

 that hot and humid region, which is replete with 

 every thing that can please our imagination, or 

 administer to our wants, we must not be surprised 

 to find here and there some little drawback ; some 

 few obstructions in our way ; some thorny plants to 

 impede our journey as we wander on. 



The chegoe resembles a flea : and, had you just 

 come out of a dovecot, on seeing it upon your skin, 

 you might easily mistake it for a small pigeon flea ; 

 although, upon a closer inspection, you would sur- 

 mise that it is not capable of taking those amazingly 

 elastic bounds, so notorious in the flea of Europe. 



Not content with merely paying you a visit, and 

 then taking itself oflT again, as is the custom of most 

 insects, this insidious miner contrives to work its 

 way quite under your skin, and there remains to 

 rear a numerous progeny. I once had the curiosity 

 to watch the movements of a chegoe on the back of 

 my hand, a part not usually selected by it to form 

 a settlement. It worked its way pretty rapidly for 

 so small an insect. In half an hour it had bored 

 quite through the skin, and was completely out of 



