re on the talipot.

The bite of the small species of centipede alluded to is not very
severe, being about equivalent to a wasp's sting. I have been bitten
myself, and I have seen another person suffering from the bite, which
was ludicrous enough.

The sufferer was Corporal Phinn, of H.M. Fifteenth Regiment. At that
time he was one of Lieutenant de Montenach's servants, and accompanied
his master on a hunting-trip to the Horton Plains.

Now Phinn was of course an Irishman; an excellent fellow, a dead hand
at tramping a bog and killing a snipe, but (without the slightest
intention of impugning his veracity) Phinn's ideality was largely
developed. He was never by himself for five minutes in the jungle
without having seen something wonderful before his return; this he was
sure to relate in a rich brogue with great facetiousness.

However, we had just finished dinner one night, and Phinn had then
taken his master's vacant place (there being only one room) to commence
his own meal, when up he jumped like a madman, spluttering the food out
of his mouth, and shouting and skipping about the room with both hands
clutched tightly to the hinder part of his inexpressibles. "Oh, by
Jasus! help, sir, help! I've a reptile or some divil up my breeches!
Oh! bad luck to him, he's biting me! Oh! oh! it's sure a sarpint that's
stinging me! quick, sir, or he'll be the death o' me!"

Phinn was frantic, and upon lowering his inexpressibles we found the
centipede about four inches long which had bitten him. A little brandy
rubbed on the part soon relieved the pain.

[1] An exceedingly active Moorman, who was my great ally in hunting.

CHAPTER VIII.

Observations on Nature in the Tropics--The Dung Beetle--The
Mason-fly--Spiders--Luminous Insects--Efforts of a Naturalist--Dogs
Worried by Leeches--Tropical Diseases--Malaria--Causes of
Infection--Disappearance of the "Mina"--Poisonous Water--Well-digging
Elephants.

How little can the inhabitant of a cold or temperate climate appreciate
the vast amount of "life" in a tropical country. The combined action
of light, heat and moisture calls into existence myriads of creeping
things, the offspring of the decay of vegetation. "Life" appears to
emanate from "death"--the destruction of one material seems to multify
the existence of another--the whole surface of the earth seems busied
in one vast system of giving birth.

An animal dies--a solitary beast--and before his unit life ha