Chap. XIIL] 
LEECHES. 
481 
which is kept damp by frequent showers, they are found 
in tormenting profusion. They are terrestrial, never 
visiting ponds or streams. In size they are about an 
Inch in length, and as fine as a common knitting needle ; 
but they are capable of distension till they equal a quill 
in thickness, and attain a length of nearly two inches. 
Their structure is so flexible that they can insinuate 
themselves through the meshes of the finest stocking, 
not only seizing on the feet and ankles, but ascending 
to the back and throat and fastening on the tender est 
parts of the body. In order to exclude them, the coffee 
planters, who live amongst these pests, are obliged to 
LAND LEECHES IN PURSUIT. 
envelope their legs in e: leech gaiters " made of closely 
woven cloth. The natives smear their bodies with oil, 
tobacco ashes, or lemon juice 1 ; the latter serving not 
only to stop the flow of blood, but to expedite the 
healing of the wounds. In moving, the land leeches 
have the power of planting one extremity on the earth 
and raising the other perpendicularly to watch for their 
victim. Such is their vigilance and instinct, that on 
i 1 The Minorite friar, Odoeic of peel, anointing themselves with 
Portenau, writing in a.d. 1320, the juice thereof, so that the 
says that the gem-finders who leeches may not be able to hurt 
sought the jewels around Adam's them." — Hakltjyt, Voy. vol. iu. 
Peak, " take lemons which they p. 58. 
I I 
