candle was lighted to rearrange the kit, and in a
moment, as though by magic, the whole interior became
covered with a host of small black beetles,
evidently attracted by the glimmer of the candle.
They were so annoyingly determined in their choice
of place for peregrinating, that it seemed hopeless my
trying to brush them off the clothes or bedding, for as
one was knocked aside another came on, and then
another; till at last, worn out, I extinguished the
candle, and with difficulty—trying to overcome the
tickling annoyance occasioned by these intruders
crawling up my sleeves and into my hair, or down my
back and legs—fell off to sleep. Eepose that night
was not destined to be my lot. One of these horrid
little insects awoke me in his struggles to penetrate
my ear, but just too la te : for in my endeavour to
extract him, I aided his immersion. He went his
course, struggling up the narrow channel, until he got
arrested by want of passage-room. This impediment
evidently enraged him, for he began with exceeding
vigour, like a rabbit at a hole, to dig violently away
at my tympanum. The queer sensation this amusing
measure excited in me is past description. I felt
inclined to act as our donkeys once did, when beset
by a swarm of bees, who buzzed about their ears and
stung their heads and eyes until they were so irritated
and confused that they galloped about in the most
distracted order, trying to knock them off by treading
on their heads, or by rushing under bushes, into
houses, or through any jungle they could find. Indeed,
I do not know which was worst off. The bees
killed some of them, and this beetle nearly did for
me. What to do I knew not. Neither tobacco, oil,
nor salt could be found : I therefore tried melted
b u tte r; that failing, I applied the point of a penknife
to his back, which did more harm than good ; for
though a few thrusts quieted him, the point also
wounded my ear so badly, that inflammation set in,
severe suppuration took place, and all the facial glands
extending from that point down to the point of the
shoulder became contorted and drawn aside, and a
string of boils decorated the whole length of that
region. I t was the most painful thing I ever remember
to have endured; but, more annoying still, I
could not masticate for several days, and had to
feed on broth alone. For many months the tumour
made me almost deaf, and ate a hole between the
ear and the nose, so that when I blew it, my ear
whistled so audibly that those who heard it laughed.
Six or seven months after this accident happened, bits
of the beetle—a leg, a wing, or parts of its body—
came away in the wax.
It was not altogether an unmixed evil, for the
excitement occasioned by the beetle’s operations acted
towards my blindness as a counter-irritant, by drawing
the inflammation away from my eyes. Indeed, it
operated far better than any other artificial appliance.
To cure the blindness I once tried rubbing in some
blistering liquor behind my ear, but this unfortunately
had been injured by the journey, and had lost its
p