UGANDA'S INSECT PLAGUE.

Ohinemuri Gazette, Volume XXIII, Issue 2975, 2 August 1912, Page 4

UGANDA'S INSECT PLAGUE.

NATIVES' METHOD OF DEALING

WITH INSECTS

Wo christened our Uganda house The Barn. .Its walls arid floors poor in plane surfaces ; they bulged unexpectedly. There was no ceiling, and from the old thatched roof gambolling snakes shook dowr unsavoury particles upon our food. During the rains tnis, thatch leaked in spouts of muddy water like the nose of a watering pot in the bedrooms, and in time I became ac'* cut tomed to sleeping under a mackintosh and. umbrella. Ventilated roofs of this nature were not uncommon in the station.

The windows of our dwelling-house were meagre,..slits with calico nailed across them instead of glass, but wo had four excellent doorways. To one door there was- a lock and a key ; another possessed a handle ; the third had no fastening at all, and the fourth did not exist. Every night we methodically turned 3iir only key in its lock, determined that such a luxury should not want recognition, but there was nothing Lo prevent , ALL THE BURGLARS IN UGANDA from streaming through the three other entrances, arid I have always wondered why on earth they never did so. From the moment of our arrival it TiTe"'l3arn it became evident that my lot was to contend hourly wTth predatory insects, who, like tropical insects everywhere, seemed to pursue their nefarious callings- at night and clay unresting. Thus the war wagi(] against them was always a losing one, for while we slept they bit, ;hewcd "and dovoured ; they bored, tunneled, and-* climbed, and we awoke in the morning to find fresh ravages as the results of their • i-hfs :eal. ■ There were not only Me usual mosquitoes that fed upon as, and the usual fish-tail insects hat chewed our woollen clothing, •md the usual cockroaches that. • lov t''-<l themselves* on our silken \( s mcnls, but there were others.

There were insects that sprang .urd i:,s?ets that did not spring ; 1 l.erj were ticks or revolting outline ; there were JIGGERS WHO LAMED US ,ii:ies without number ; there were Ijoi ing beetles who conscientiously nined out the interior of all ser--1 i ea! 10. wood till our chairs and :al,ls became hollow shams, tottering to destruction before out ?yes ; there were little ants who swarmed up giddy heights in order to fatten on butter; there were bigsioilied. gluttonous ants who swelled tin mselves on sugar' eaten in secret, ■y,\\ —woe was me —there were whole Mtipircs of white ants, who flourishid their tunnels and traceries of red mud in every direction. These werfl omnivorous and omnipresent.