SEPT.] 
NAMACQUA LAND. 
451 
seemed all pleased by the prospect of reaching a greater 
and probably more permanent sphere of usefulness* 
28th. Mrs. Sass remarked to me in the morning, 
that though preservation of children in London, who 
are exposed to so many carts and carriages, is con- 
sidered a remarkable providence, yet that here, divine 
providence is still more remarkable, for almost every 
fly, and every insect that crawls upon the ground, is 
furnished with poison, and they are often creeping 
about children while rolling on the ground, yet they 
are very seldom stung by them. " For example," said 
she, " the scorpion is perhaps the most venomous of 
all creatures, yet lately, in the course of one month we 
found twelve scorpions in our house, under stones 
which supported our chests; and once we found a 
centipede (or creature with a hundred feet) in our bed, 
M'hich is very venomous." 
In order to exhibit something of the scorpion, they 
dug a hole, into which they put four of them. They 
soon began to fight till they killed one another. Their 
mode of fighting was curious. Having two claws like a 
crab's, with these they attempted to seize each other by 
the head. When one happened to be thus caught, he 
seemed sensible of his danger from his opponent and 
cried out ; but the other, regardless of his cries, turned 
round his tail and gave him one sting : the one that 
was stung, as if aware of its mortality, resisted no 
more, but lay down till he died ; the other, as if aware 
3 M 2 
