The Chief Nuisances: Mosquitoes and Ants.
To repeat: Among the chief nuisances in the Philippines are mosquitoes and ants. The ordinary bed is a hemp mat, without sheets, but never without ample mosquito nets, in the absence of which sleep would be banished. The white ants are indeed formidable; not like the locusts, feeding on green things growing, but destroying dry wood and vegetable fibre, wherever found. They can literally devour a house; and I have been gravely told that even the surface of iron is not safe from their ravages.
A Wayside Restaurant.
Many anecdotes are extant concerning the silent, hidden, and rapid ravages of these aggressive insects, working entirely out of sight, yet finding their way by a sure instinct to anything that will serve them for food. In one aggravating instance, happening in 1838, the priests of a certain town had packed away, in a trunk of narra-wood, the various articles used in the service of the mass, including the robes, priests’ garments, and so forth. The following day, March 19th, they were taken out and used, and in the evening restored to the trunk. On the 20th some dirt was seen near this receptacle, and it was opened. To the horror of all the priests, their sacred vestments had vanished; nothing was left of them but a layer of dust and the gold and silver lace, this being tarnished by a filthy deposit. Yet not an ant was to be found in the trunk, nor in any part of the church; and five days elapsed before it was discovered how they had reached their prey. It was then found that they had eaten through a beam six inches thick, making a small hole, through which they obtained access to the trunk.
A Native Servant-Girl.
Blind though they are, their other senses seem to be remarkably developed. They work from underground, never appearing at the surface, and will excavate a piece of furniture until it is a mere shell, and falls at a touch, yet not show the least vestige of a tunnel outside.
One ignorant servant-girl had lent her earnings, in hard silver dollars, to a relative, and on asking to be repaid was gravely informed that the money no longer existed—the white ants had eaten it. This preposterous story was believed by the girl, who was ready to accept any marvel that the white ants were credited with.
