204 CENTRAL AMERICA. 



A large swarm of wasps were hovering about 

 her and stinging her cruelly. I immediately 

 cut a good switching branch from a tree, and 

 wrapping my head up in a poncho, so as only 

 just to see, went to her assistance, and soon 

 dispersed them. There is nothing like a 

 springy branch for clearing away a swarm of 

 wasps, as each sweep brings down a good 

 many. Having made the poor beast get up, 

 I led her down to the stream, and, bathing 

 her all over, found she was perfectly .covered 

 with large lumps. She was in such a state 

 of fever, that I was obliged to bleed her 

 freely, and it was several days before she 

 was well. 



For four or five months in the year there 

 is the greatest possible plague in the shape of 

 an insect that infests the woods, savannahs, 

 sides of rivers, and, in short, every spot 

 except the towns and sandy places. It is 

 called by the natives the " Agarra-pata," 

 from the tenacious way it holds on by the 

 claws. It is a species of diminutive crab, at 

 first not larger than the point of a pin, but 

 growing in a short time to the size of a pin^ 

 head. They congregate during the dry season 

 on the extreme ends of leaves and points of 

 grass, and whether a person is on horseback 



