A TREE RICH IN PROMISE. 
47 
times induced some people to believe that I pos- 
sessed tlie power of taming these antipathetical 
creatures, and their equally repellent many-footecl 
relatives, the centipedes. Though the capacity of 
rendering such venomous reptiles harmless may 
appear amazing to the uninitiated, there was really 
nothing supernatural in the “Mystery-maiTs” black- 
art, which simply consisted in surreptitiously 
nipping off the tip of the scorpion’s sting and the 
.poison hooks of fell Scolopendi’a’s jaws with a pair 
of scissors. Thus deprived of the power to pene- 
trate the skin, the once noxious insects are baffled 
in their attempts to do mischief, and may be per- 
mitted to roam undisturbed over the hands and 
face Avithout the slightest fear of danger. 
I next came to a huge tree, which, from its 
appearance, seemed to promise some response to the 
anxious inquiries of the naturahst. Its decayed 
trunk was covered with toadstools, and tenanted 
by legions of white-ants ; we also discovered on 
it some fungus-eating beetles, a very handsome 
species, of a goodly size, marked prettily on the 
