. By night and by
day the air seemed filled with insects, in countless swarms,--large and
small moths, cockchafers, glow-flies, cockroaches, winged ants,
may-flies, flying earwigs, beetles, and "daddy longlegs." They
experienced the bite of ants or the stings of mosquitoes every moment,
or they were attacked by large ticks, a species of which infests the
bamboo, and which is one of the most hateful of insects. These the
traveller cannot avoid coming in contact with while brushing through the
forest. They get inside his dress, often in great numbers, and insert
their proboscis deeply, but without pain. Buried head and shoulders,
and retained by its barbed lancet, this tick can only be extracted with
great force, and the operation is exceedingly painful.

But of the tortures to which they were subjected by insects and
reptiles, there was one more disagreeable and disgusting than all the
rest, and on their first experience of it the three were quite
horrified.

It happened to them on the very day after their adventure with the bear
and the bees. They had walked several miles for their morning stage,
and the sun having grown quite hot, they agreed to rest for some hours
till afternoon. Having thrown off their packs and accoutrements, all
three lay down upon the grass close by the edge of a little stream, and
under the shadow of a spreading tree. The fatigue of the walk, combined
with the heated atmosphere, had rendered them drowsy, and one and all of
them fell fast asleep.

Caspar was the first to awake. He did not feel quite comfortable during
his sleep. The mosquitos or some other kind of insects appeared to be
biting him, and this had prevented him from sleeping soundly. He awoke
at length and sat upright. The others were still asleep close by, and
the eyes of Caspar by chance rested upon Ossaroo, whose body was more
than half naked, the slight cotton tunic having fallen aside and exposed
his breast to view; besides, his legs were bare, as the shikarree had
rolled up his trousers on account of the damp grass they had been
passing through. What was the astonishment of Caspar at perceiving the
naked part of Ossaroo's body mottled with spots of dark and red--the
latter being evidently blotches of blood! Caspar perceived that some of
the dark spots were in motion, now lengthening out, and then closing up
again into a smaller compass; and it was only after he had drawn closer,
and examined these objects more