GARRAPATAS. 



71 



given Albino a dollar to purchase eggs with, who ob- 

 jected to it as too large a coin to be available on 

 the rancho, but on his return informed us, with an 

 expression of surprise, that the master had changed 

 it the moment it was offered to him. 



Our hasty dinner over, we asked for Indians to 

 guide us to the ruins, and were somewhat startled by 

 the objections they all made on account of the garra- 

 patas. Since we left Uxmal the greatest of our small 

 hardships had been the annoyance of these insects ; 

 in fact, it was by no means a small hardship. Fre- 

 quently we came in contact with a bush covered 

 with them, from which thousands swarmed upon us, 

 like moving grains of sand, and scattered till the 

 body itself seemed crawling. Our horses suffered, 

 perhaps, more than ourselves, and it became a habit, 

 whenever we dismounted, to rasp their sides with a 

 rough stick. During the dry season the little pests 

 are killed off by the heat of the sun, and devoured by 

 birds, but for which I verily believe they would 

 make the country uninhabitable. All along we had 

 been told that the dry season was at hand, and they 

 would soon be over ; but we began to despair of any 

 dry season, and had no hopes of getting rid of them. 

 Nevertheless, we were somewhat startled at the 

 warning conveyed by the reluctance of the Indians ; 

 and when we insisted upon going, they gave us an- 

 other alarming intimation by cutting twigs, with 

 which, from the moment of starting, they whipped 

 the bushes on each side, and swept the path before 

 them. 



