mSTDRY OF MEXICO. 



57 



-common ant, with a greyifh-coloured body and a black 

 head. Upon its hinder parts it carries a h'ttle bag, full 

 of a very fweet liquor, which the children are very fond 

 of, and imagine it is a honey made by the ant like that 

 made by the bee, but I rather take it to be eggs. Mr. de 

 la Barrere, in his Natural Hiftory of Equinoftial France, 

 takes notice of fuch ants being found in Cayenne , but 

 thofe are winged ants, and ours are without wings. 



The Nigua or Chegoe, called in other countries Pique, 

 is an exceeding fmall infeft, not very unlike a flea, which, 

 in fome hot countries is bred in the duft. It fixes upon 

 the feet, and breaking infenfibly the cuticle, it neftles be- 

 twixt that and the true ikin, which alfo, unlefs it is im- 

 mediately taken out, it breaks, and pierces at laft to the 

 flefli, multiplying with a rapidity almoft incredible. It is 

 feldom difcovered until it pierces the true ilcin, when it 

 caufes an intolerable itching. Thefe infers with their 

 aftonifliing multiphcation would foon difpeople thofe coun- 

 tries, were it lefs eafy to avoid them, or were the inha- 

 bitants lefs dextrous in getting them out before they be- 

 gin to fpread. On the other hand, nature, in order to 

 lefTen the evil, has not only denied them wings, but even 

 that conformation of the legs, and thofe ftrong mufcles 

 which flie has given to the flea for leaping. The poor 

 however, who are in fome mcafure doomed to live in the 

 duft, and to a habitual negled of their perfons, fulFer 

 thefe infedls fometimes to multiply fo far as to make large 

 holes in their flefli, and even to occafion dangerous 

 wounds. 



What the Niguas or Chegoes do in houfes, is done in 

 the fields by the ticks, of which there are two fpecies or 

 rather claflTes. The firft are common in the new, as well 

 as the old world, which fix in the flcins of flieep, horfes. 



Vol. I. ' N and 



