The First Time
I Encountered This By No Means Contemptible Enemy Was Near Cassange.
My Attention Being Taken Up In Viewing The Distant Landscape, I Accidentally
Stepped Upon One Of Their Nests.
Not an instant seemed to elapse
before a simultaneous attack was made on various unprotected parts,
up the trowsers
From below, and on my neck and breast above.
The bites of these furies were like sparks of fire, and there was no retreat.
I jumped about for a second or two, then in desperation
tore off all my clothing, and rubbed and picked them off seriatim
as quickly as possible. Ugh! they would make the most lethargic mortal
look alive. Fortunately, no one observed this rencounter,
or word might have been taken back to the village that I had become mad.
I was once assaulted in a similar way when sound asleep at night in my tent,
and it was only by holding my blanket over the fire that I could
get rid of them. It is really astonishing how such small bodies
can contain so large an amount of ill-nature. They not only bite,
but twist themselves round after the mandibles are inserted, to produce
laceration and pain, more than would be effected by the single wound.
Frequently, while sitting on the ox, as he happened to tread near a band,
they would rush up his legs to the rider, and soon let him know
that he had disturbed their march. They possess no fear,
attacking with equal ferocity the largest as well as the smallest animals.
When any person has leaped over the band, numbers of them leave the ranks
and rush along the path, seemingly anxious for a fight.
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