CHAPTER XXXI.
OF OTHER NOXIOUS INSECTS, AND THEIR REMEDIES.
You might swear that Egypt, and the whole plague of insects with which divine vengeance afflicted that land, had removed into Paraguay; nay, you will find many here more mischievous and troublesome than Egypt ever beheld. I have always thought common house-flies, resembling ours in external appearance, more to be dreaded and shunned than serpents, scorpions, scolopendras, hairy spiders, &c. Do not imagine this to be an hyperbole: I declare it as my serious opinion. Swarms of these insects are always flying up and down. At home and abroad you will see yourself surrounded by these hungry little animals, which, though a hundred times repulsed, will return as often. They enter the ears of persons when they are asleep, and creeping to the interior of the head, lay great numbers of eggs, which breed quantities of worms; these insects hourly increase in number, and gnaw all the flesh and moisture in the head, so that delirium and final death are the inevitable consequence, unless a remedy be applied. I knew a Spaniard whose whole face together with the nostrils was consumed, the forepart of his head being made as hollow as a gourd by worms. One fly, which had crept into his nose whilst he slept, was the origin of the worms and of his misfortune. This is no rare occurrence. That worms are expelled by the application of tiger's fat you have already learnt from the twenty-second chapter of this history: but hear further. In the town of the Rosary, one of the Abipones swarmed with worms to a shocking degree; but these insects, unable to endure the tiger's fat which I applied to them, gnawed open two outlets, and all burst away, leaving the sick man in perfect health, and ascribing his recovery to this potent medicine; by the aid of which I cured a female captive of the Spaniards, whose head had been grazed by a bullet. The bloody and lacerated skin as usual attracted these flies, which, making a passage to the interior of the head, greatly endangered the poor woman's life, but were soon dislodged by the application of tiger's fat. We have benefited other persons, at various times, with the same remedy. I took care always to have a good supply of a medicine so important, and in such constant request. At the first news of a tiger being slain I hastened to get its fat, which I kept melted in a little vessel; for if raw, it would soon putrefy in so hot a climate. Though the fat of these animals, even when fresh, like the rest of the flesh, exhales a most abominable odour, yet when mixed in water, it is drank by the Abipones with the utmost avidity. In some of the Guarany Reductions, peach leaves are used to expel worms bred by flies.
The natives of northern regions will hardly conceive, and natural historians scarce credit the breeding of such dangerous worms from flies; but the Americans witness it daily, and deplore its fatal effects not only on themselves, but on cattle. When we killed a cow or a sheep at sun-rise, the flies have been seen swarming round the flesh; soon after we have found it covered with a kind of whitish seed, and by sun-set the meat became stinking, full of worms, and unfit to be eaten. Those who wish to preserve meat uninjured, should either cut it into very small pieces and dry it in the air, or hang it up in the shade in a net, or wicker basket, so that it may be exposed to the air, without being accessible to flies. Should a horse's back be injured by the hardness of the saddle, or by long riding, the flies will swarm thither as if bidden to a feast, and breed innumerable worms, which mangle the horse, and in a few days destroy him. Blood bursting from an ulcer is a sign that worms are within. In order to remedy this they tie the animal's feet and throw him on the ground, then dig out the worms and matter with a slender stick, and fill up the hole of the ulcer with chewed tobacco-leaves, and cow-dung. This must be repeated for many days. If the animal can lick himself the cure will be surer and quicker. But as this method of healing is accompanied with much trouble and some danger, the Indians, and half Spaniards, who are more lazy than the Indians, had rather see the plain strewed with carcasses, than exert themselves either with their hands or feet. The slothfulness of the shepherds who take care of the estates yearly occasions the loss of many thousand horses, oxen, calves, sheep and mules in Paraguay. New born calves should be examined and rid of the worms, with which they are generally infested; for the flies immediately attack the navel string, and miserably kill them. On which account, if, out of ten thousand calves born yearly on your estate, four thousand remain alive, you have great reason to congratulate yourself, and return thanks to your shepherds.
I should not omit to mention another worm medicine. Szentivan advises you to give a drench of olive oil and water to oxen labouring under this disease, as it causes them to void the worms along with their excrement. I had formerly read of this, and remembering the prescription, adopted it in America with success, before I was acquainted with the virtues of tiger's fat. I had a great mastiff dog, remarkable for beauty, strength, and courage, my faithful guard both at home and abroad, but somewhat quarrelsome. He provoked daily battles, and was constantly victorious, till one day when he was attacked by a number of hounds at once; the wound which they made was infested by worms, so that, as he would not suffer it to be touched, we had no hopes of his recovery. After applying a very few drops of oil to the wound, I beheld the whole brood of worms issuing forth, and caught hold of them as they protruded themselves from the skin, with a pair of compasses. When the worms ceased to break out, I poured on oil again and again, till none remained in the hollow of the wound, and by this art the dog recovered in two days. The same oil, in a lukewarm state, is poured into the ears, to get away any gnat, flea, or fly, which may have crept into them. I will tell you of a false alarm I once had on this account. As I was dressing in the morning, I heard a continual humming so near me, that I thought a fly must have entered my head; a suspicion which gave me much anxiety. Every thing was tried, without success, to expel the fly, which still continued its deadly hum. At last, oil heated in a shell was poured into my ear by a boy, but, from being too hot, it caused me extreme pain. Yet still greater was my consternation at finding that the humming was not discontinued. "Come," said I to the boy, "put your ear close to me, and listen attentively to the buzzing of this wretched insect." The boy listened for some time, and then said with a smile: "you need be under no apprehension, Father; the fly is in your clothes, not in your ear." Immediately undoing the buttons, I pulled away the coat from my neck, and the fly, which had been confined in the fold, joyfully flew away. I cannot express the delight I felt at finding myself free from this danger. It was a long time, however, before I could forget it; the obstinate pain in my ear, occasioned by the hot oil, every now and then reminding me of the captive fly. I must here mention another remedy. If ever you feel any insect enter your ear, you should make some other person syringe it well with cold water; for the little insects, oppressed by the wet, will either come out, or perish immediately.
In certain parts of Paraguay, especially in the Tarumensian territory, you meet with another species of fly. In size and shape they differ little from our common flies, but are of a white colour, and have a formidable sting, which, when inserted into the flesh of man or beast, elicits a quantity of blood. I scarce ever remember seeing them in houses; they chiefly infest the roads, where they are excessively troublesome to horse travellers. There is a great number and variety of gad-flies, in plains adjacent to woods, but these insects attack beasts only. I am not surprized at the fable of Io being driven mad by a gad-fly, having so often seen horses and mules, tractable at other times, tormented by gad-flies adhering to their skin like leeches, till they grew quite furious, and lost all control over themselves, and regard for their riders. Still greater danger is experienced in the woods from certain large wasps, the sting of which perfectly infuriates the horses. To free themselves from these cruel tormentors, they often refuse to obey the bridle, and throw their rider, rushing onwards, and rolling themselves on the ground; a circumstance which occasions many broken legs, and bruised heads, and much bloodshed. I, myself, though riding on a very gentle mule, should have been killed once owing to this circumstance, had not an Indian come to my assistance. These insects attack men also. Their sting occasions violent pain and great swelling. A piece of fresh turf is generally applied to the wounded part, by way of remedy, but it never did me any good, as my cheek may testify. In my absence, a great number of wasps flew into the yard of our house, and settled upon a stake, forming themselves into a large round ball. Lest passers-by should disperse them, and they should fly into our apartment, I fired a gun into the ball of wasps. Terrified at the sudden report, they all flew away except one, which pitched upon my face, and inserting its sting into the flesh, caused it to swell dreadfully. The tumour was succeeded by a corresponding degree of pain. On my complaining the next day, and mentioning the remedies I had used, an old Abipon said, "Why did you not anoint the swelling with beef fat, Father? that is an old and certain remedy amongst us." I complied with this advice, in consequence of which the swelling and pain both ceased. Take notice that I do not mean suet, but the fat of the animal, which is used in Paraguay in the place of melted butter. How dangerous it is to provoke hornets, we have often found in travelling. A nest of these insects concealed under the leaves had perhaps been disturbed unintentionally by the Indians, who preceded me as we were walking in the woods; but they did not escape with impunity, not a few being stung by the hornets dispersed in this manner. Most of them, however, rushed under my clothes, and would have stung me all over, had I not given my garment to the Indians to examine and shake.
No arithmetic is sufficient to reckon the number of gnats that torment this country, as no patience is equal to enduring them. Wherever you go, they afflict your ears with their noise, and your flesh with their stings, making you wish for a hundred arms to drive them away. During cold weather, they remain quietly in their lurking-holes, but when the sun is hot and the air tranquil, they fly out in search of food, and are never more ferocious than at dawn or twilight. Where the grass is high, where bushes, pools, rivers, or marshes are near at hand, and where there are thick woods which exclude the air, there you will be plagued by vast numbers of serpents, and swarms of gnats. If you have to pass the night in such a situation as I have described, never dream of sleeping. After the fatigue of riding or walking the whole day, you will fruitlessly weary both hands at night with driving away gnats. Unable to sleep, how often have I reproached the sun with returning too slowly! I pitied the horses which, after being debilitated with toil and fasting, were surrounded by such a swarm of hungry gnats, that, as they could neither take any rest, nor graze the herb, they stood round the fire to inhale the smoke, which, if rather sharp, will keep off those trumpeting insects. Gnats cannot endure the smoke of cow-dung; but besides that it will have the same unpleasant effect upon your own nostrils, if your sense of smelling be not very dull indeed; you will hardly meet with cow-dung in the woods, where there is not so much as the shadow of a cow, and travellers through these deserts are too much laden with provisions, water, and fuel, to be able to carry bundles of it with them. I was much pleased with the ingenuity of a Negro, who, when he slept on a journey, always had at his side some resinous material from rotten wood, which glistens at night, smokes gently without any unpleasant smell, and, as I observed, always defended him from gnats. Incredible is the annoyance caused by these insects in a long journey. We have often returned home mangled, swollen, and bloody, in short, so unlike ourselves, that we could hardly know one another. Even in the house, if you do not wish to pass a sleepless night, you should not suffer the door or window to remain open at sun-set, especially when you light a candle; for they fly by swarms to any light, whenever they can find access to it. There is a species of gnats which are smaller, but more mischievous than the common kind; for though they have not the disagreeable hum of the others, they creep into the mouth, ears, and nose, and sting violently.
The most famous gnat in Paraguay, the mbarigué, is of the smallest size. Its extreme diminutiveness renders it invisible to the acutest eye, yet its sting is intolerably painful. These insects infest the thicker woods and the banks of streams, and are most to be feared in the evening, when the air is still. Their sting is like the point of a weapon, with which they pierce the flesh, not only when it is naked, but when defended with a slight covering. After passing some time in the woods, we returned to the town so covered with red spots, that we looked like persons in the small-pox. When in this state, the skin cannot be safely scratched with the nails, or washed with cold water. From the repeated stings of this gnat, large worms are often bred, whether originating in the pestilent sting, the poisoned humour, or some seed left by the insect, or in the gnat itself, converted into a worm within the flesh, I cannot tell. That more than one worm is never bred in one place, I know, the proof of which you shall now hear. I had observed my dog howl every now and then, scratching himself and appearing very uneasy. The Indians, when consulted on the matter, answered that he was swarming with worms. Under my inspection, they tied the dog's mouth and feet, laid him on the ground, and pressing the flesh where it appeared swelled with both hands, squeezed out the worm concealed underneath. Seventeen worms were thus taken from as many different places, all of a white colour, thicker than the seed of an apple, and about the length of a man's thumb nail. Astonished at the circumstance, I was told by the Indians that it frequently happened to themselves. And, indeed, all Paraguay knows that the minutest worms and flies have been the death of many persons. Father Felix Villa-Garzia, during his long search for the Ytatinguas in the Tarumensian woods, contracted a disorder in his eye, and was tormented by a fistula and the worms engendered therein for the rest of his life: that the heat of the sun, and various kinds of gnats were the occasion of this disorder, is well known.
CHAPTER XXXII.
CONTINUATION OF THE SAME SUBJECT.
The hotter parts both of North and South America breed a little worm, the daily cause of many groans, and not a few deaths. In appearance, and in its manner of skipping, it resembles the smallest of all possible fleas, and is hardly visible to the keenest eye, except in a very strong light, but so pungent that it must be felt by every one that is not made of stone or iron. This insect has so sharp a proboscis that it will pierce shoes, boots, gaiters, and every kind of clothing. It adheres a little while to the skin, and then penetrates the flesh, causing an intense itching: concealed there, as under a burrow, it surrounds itself with a round whitish little bladder, which it fills with eggs like the smallest nits. If this bladder remain many days under the skin, it increases to the size of a pea. This is a common sight. The longer the bladder adheres to the body, the more is the sense of pain deadened. Children are much the fittest to rout this enemy from his station, for the strong sight they possess enables them immediately to discover the little red spot which denotes the place where the worm has entered the flesh. The circumference of that spot they prick with a needle, gradually open the skin and flesh, and at length pluck out the whole bladder with the little worm buried amongst its nits. When this is put to a candle, it goes off with a noise like gunpowder. But if the bladder be broken in the operation, the humour effused from thence will occasion further pain, and the nits, by being scattered, will breed fresh worms in the same place. That this gnat teems with poisonous matter is evident from the circumstance that the hollow from which it has been eradicated, not unfrequently inflames, swells, and, unless quickly remedied, becomes gangrenous. The nails of the feet, which they frequently attack, always decay and fall off, and, to preserve life, it is often necessary to amputate the toes. Those who wish to guard against this inconvenience, should study cleanliness in their houses, for the said worms derive their origin from dust, excrement, and urine in a hot climate, and are bred in places which are seldom swept, which have been long uninhabited, and where the cold air has no access to dry the moisture. The stalls of oxen, horses, and mules, though in the open air, and without a roof, swarm with them. In the southern parts of Paraguay, where the air is not so hot, this noxious insect is unknown; indeed it is seen no where but in the territories of Buenos-Ayres, and Cordoba of the Tucumans. After passing six years in Paraguay, I was only acquainted with it by name, and it was not till my removal to the colony of St. Ferdinand, that I began to see, to suffer and to execrate this pest. Persons who live in a place infested by these insects, should have their feet daily examined; for however troublesome this inspection may be, much greater inconvenience will be incurred by the neglect of it. At one sitting a boy will often take out twenty or more worms, and when your fingers and nails are almost all filled with holes, and the soles of your feet so lacerated as to prevent you from walking a step without difficulty, you will yourself deplore your neglect and procrastination. I have known many persons confined to their beds for weeks, and others entirely deprived of the use of their feet on this account. Though these worms chiefly attack the feet, yet they sometimes, with still greater danger, creep to the other parts of the body, and make their nest in the arm or knee. Dogs, from their always lying on the ground, are most troubled with these insects; but they dexterously remove them from their flesh with their tongues, and heal the wound by licking it. Sows, tame monkeys, cats, goats, and sheep, are dreadfully tormented by them; but horses, asses, mules, and oxen, are protected against the common enemy by the hardness of their hoofs. The Americans should take care to fill up the hollow left by the bladder with tobacco-powder, ashes, or soap, otherwise the wound made by the needle, and infected with the poison of the insect, will become ulcerous, conceive matter, and, on occasion of inflammation, or violent motion of the feet, will end in a gangrene, or St. Anthony's fire. Hen's fat and a cabbage leaf applied to the feet, to allay the inflammation, have often been found of service. They write that the Brazilians, to keep off these worms, anoint their feet with an oil expressed from the unripe acorns of the acaju. Sailors daub themselves with pitch for the same purpose. All of us, in the fear of these and other insects, wore sheepskin leggings, but we found them weak and inefficient defences.
The common fleas of Europe, diffused like æther throughout every part of the air, are not only bred in Paraguay, but domineer most insolently here, as in their native soil. It is a remarkable circumstance that the plain itself, which is covered with grass, swarms with fleas. Persons sailing on the Paraguay, when they leave the vessel to pass the night or noon on the shore, though they lie on a green turf, where no man or dog ever trod, will return to the ship blackened with fleas. If this occurs in the green plain, what must we expect in the dry floors of an apartment, covered neither with brick, stone, nor board? In apartments of this kind have I dwelt seven years amongst the Abipones, during which time I had to contend with countless swarms of fleas. Do you enquire the remedy for fleas in America? There is but one, namely, patience. Columella, Kircher, and others, are indeed of opinion that these insects are not only driven away but destroyed by a decoction of odoriferous herbs scattered on the floor; and the Guaranies do certainly boil for this purpose a strong-scented herb, sprinkling the chamber with the water when boiling hot, and sweeping it once or twice. But if the fleas are destroyed by this means, I attribute it, not to the strong smell of the herbs, but to the water in which they are boiled, and to the mops by which they are swept away. Let the houses be cleared of dust and dogs, and rendered pervious to frequent winds; these are the best precautions against the smaller insects. Lice are never to be met with amongst the Abipones, except in the hair. The Spanish colonies abound in bugs, but I never beheld one in the towns of the Indians. Flying bugs, called binchuccas, are common in Cordoba, and other parts of Tucuman. By day they lurk in the chinks of roofs and chests, but fly out at night and make bloody war upon sleepers. They affect the part upon which they fasten with an intolerable heat, seeming rather to burn than bite the body. The red spots caused by the pain appear as if they had been raised by a caustic. Fatigued with fifteen days hard riding, through a continuous desert, and amid unceasing showers, I reached the town of Salabina, where repose was not only desirable, but almost indispensable for me; yet the whole night passed away without my being able to obtain a wink of sound sleep. I felt all my limbs pricked and heated, but was unable to discover the cause of this unusual pain. When day-light appeared, all who saw me covered with red spots pitied my misfortune, and assured me that the flying bugs were the cause of it. In another journey I passed the night in company with a noble priest, who, after we had partaken of a light supper, set out with me and his domestics to sleep in a neighbouring field. In that part of the country this is both customary and necessary, for in hot nights the houses swarm with bugs to such a degree that it is impossible to get any sleep in them.