SAILING AMIDST CLOUDS OF FLIES.

Waikato Times, Volume III, Issue 105, 4 January 1873, Page 3

SAILING AMIDST CLOUDS OF FLIES.

A WONDERFUL STBRY. The Melbourne correspondent of the Xeto York World tells a wonderful story of tho adventures of the ship Althea, which arrived m Australia, after cruising m the j Atlantic, Pacific Southern and Indian Oceans. The only part of this narrative which is of immediate intercut to the public is the account of what took place during the last months, during part of which the Althea was m the ludian ami Southern Oceans and to this alone attention will be i called. In November last the vessel was near Madagascar, and, m doubling Capo at. M:\ro, the southernmost part of the island, the watch suddenly noticed what seemed r (tense black cloud hovering m the air and apparently uiak- | ing far the ship. In anticipation of a gale such as is common m the Indian Ocean, the sails were instantly furled, and all things made ready for the storm. But the cloud came on steadily, proceeded by a deafening din, and m about twenty minutes it dissolved into a perfect rain of swarming flies, which settled down upon the ship, wh r they were packed as densely upon each other as- were the pigeons m South America, which Audubon fb'aoribes Tuey bit and stung, and buzzed till the men we • alnvi.-t crazed, but all hands were instantly piped to o^au the decks and shovel the pliguea into the sea. They w.n-ked for about three hours, slashing and smashing and hammering the tlies ; but, so great was the weight added to the ship, that she wav still m danger of founder iug, when, luckily for them a mighty wind swept down from the lied Mountains and blew tho peats all away. The sailors who did nit know what to make of the affair, and wcro growing sujwrstitims ab>ut it wished instantly to loave the tra,-k they w.*ro pursuing, and which was towards tho mouth of Sof.ila River m Mozambique ; but the captain refused to accede to their request. For days they proceeded on their path across Mozambique Channel, seeing no inoro of the flies until they were with n about four days sail of Sofala, when for a whole day their keel ran through miles of tho rotten carcases of these insect.-*, which filled tho air with a horrible and loathsome stench. Eight of the men were taken sick and five of them died, their corpses being covered with pustules somewhat rosombling those of small-pox, but looking more malignant, while a yellowish green ichor distilled from them even m death. The men «-«ro on the verge of mutiny, but there was nothing for them to do but sad on, for now they had come to clear water, and evidently it would not do to Bail over the course again. At last they reached Sofala, tho inhabitants of which they found suffering from a loathsome an I most malignant type of small-pox which had long raged m the interior, and which the physicians held had boen bred and propagated by er.ormous swarms of flies which had been brod and propagated m the unburied and rotten carcases of victims which lay broiling m tho sun m that vast and almost unknown interior. The Althea sailed away northward towards the Comoro Islands, every day or two running through layers of rotten flies ; the crow again became sick and half crazy, and were reduced to skeletons ; half of them only were made to do duty for ten hours at a time, while the rest were confined m the disinfected hold, where the surgeon, by meams of some chemicals, male them breathe air surcharged with oxygen, under tho influence of which they came to sleep well and eat well, but thoir nervou, systems deteriorated, and they became more and more insane For sDmo reason or other tho" Comoro I<lanl bemads to be free from this pestilence, and here the crew remaino I for three weeks, during which time they were greatly recuperated. Then they determined at last to get away from tlio ; horror as soon possible, and set about to return homewards. But they went back to Madagascar, stopping midway between Cape A nbro and St. Andrew. Here tho trees and shrubbery for great area* wero covered and absolutely weighed down with enormous black flies, some of which wcro as large as bumble bees, and occasionally vast clouds of them would whiz through the air, and, going down to tho shore, would settle on the ship. What they lived on was the mystery, for already had they stripped the trees of leaves. Sometimes a limb loaded with them would fall and crush myriads of them to death, and the ground was covorcd with dense black masses of their decaying bodies, which festered there and fillod tho nir with the most loathsome stench. Here six men were taken ill, but with no small-pox symptoms, their malady being of an intensely enervating nature, and making them nervous and exc : table"to a degree. Four of them became insane and jumped overboard. They set sail towards the north, and were driven by a galo up towards the Seyclicfctc Islands, where they finally got rid of the plague, and after much stress of weather reached Melbourne. Five inoro of the men died on the passage. Tho captain himself was ill but soon recovered, and this is tho tale he tells. What seems to mo the most dreadful suggestion m it is that smallpox and other diseases of a contagious nature may be propagated by flies, against which insect there seems to Dono protection.* They devour all manner of filth and diseased bodies, the particles of which stick within their hooked feet, by which they may bo inserted m the human flesh. Ihe enormous quantities of them which are sooken of need not be incredible to bin who believe the Biblical account of the plague of flics m Egypt m the divs of \f o*o9.