The
Swellings From The Bites Have Become Confluent, And Are Scarlet With
Inflammation.
It is truly humiliating that "the crown of things" cannot
defend himself against these minute enemies, and should be made as
miserable as I am just now.
But it is a most healthy climate, and when I write of mosquitoes, land
leeches, centipedes and snakes, I have said my say as to its evils. I
will now confess that I was bitten by a centipede in my bath-house in
Sungei Ujong, but I at once cut the bite deeply with a penknife,
squeezed it, and poured ammonia recklessly over it, and in a few hours
the pain and swelling went off.
I had been to the fort, the large barrack of the military police, and
Mr. Syers showed me many things. In the first place, a snake about
eight feet long was let out and killed. The Malays call this a
"two-headed" snake, and there is enough to give rise to the ignorant
statement, for after the proper head was dead the tail stood up and
moved forward. The skin of this reptile was marked throughout with
broad bands of black and white alternately. There was an ill-favored
skull of a crocodile hanging up to dry, with teeth three inches long.
One day lately a poor Hadji was carried off by one, and shortly
afterwards this monster was caught, and on opening it they found the
skull of the Hadji, part of his body, a bit of his clothing, and part
of a goat.
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