106 



DIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 



neck or face, not so much as to lift up their hand to the 

 place, the texture of the Coya being so delicate tha^ the least 

 force causes them to burst, without which there is no danger, 

 as they seem otherwise harmless animals. The traveller 

 points out the spot where he feels the creature to one of his 

 companions, who, if it be a Coya, blows it away. If this 

 account does not exaggerate the deleterious quality of the 

 juices of this insect, it is the most venomous animal that is 

 known ; for he describes it as much smaller than a bug. The 

 only remedy to which the natives have recourse for preventing 

 the ill effects arising from its venom is, on the first appearance 

 of the swelling, to swing the patient over the flame of straw 

 or long grass, which they do with great dexterity : after this 

 operation he is reckoned to be out of danger.^ — The 

 poisoned arrows which Indians employ against their enemies 

 have been long celebrated. The Coya may, in the western 

 world, have furnished the poison for this purpose. An author 

 quoted in Lesser tells us that an ant as big as a bee is some- 

 times used, and that the wound inflicted by weapons tinctured 

 with their venom is incurable. Patterson also gives a recipe 

 by which the natives of the southern extremity of Africa 

 prepare what they reckon the most effectual poison for the 

 point of their arrows. They mix the juice of a species 

 of Euphorbia^ and a caterpillar that feeds on a kind of 

 sumach (^Rhus L.), and when the mixture is dried it is fit 

 for use.^ 



And now I think you will allow that I have made out a 

 tolerable list of insects that attack or annoy man's body ex- 

 ternally, and a sufficiently doleful history of them. That the 

 subject, however, may be complete, I shall next enumerate 



1 Ulloa's Voyage, b. vi. c. 3. Hamilton ( Travels in Colombia, as quoted in 

 the Literary Gazette, April 28. 1827) also mentions a spider called the Caya, 

 rather large, found in the broken ground and among the rocks, from the body of 

 which a poison so active is emitted, that men and mules have died in an hour or 

 two after the venomous moisture had fallen on them. This is evidently the same 

 insect w\t\\ that mentioned by UUoa, and confirms the above account of its veno- 

 mous effects. 



2 Waterton ( Wanderings in S. America, 53. ) gives the recipe by which the 

 Macousho Indians prepare the poison, in which they dip their arrows. It con- 

 sists of a vine called the Wourali, which is the principal ingredient ; the roots 

 and stalks of some other plants ; two species of ants, the sting of one of which is 

 so venomous that it produces a fever ; a quantity of the strongest Indian pepper 

 ( Capsicum), and the pounded fangs of two kinds of serpents. 



