Jasper Republican, Volume 1, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 January 1875 — Egyptian Flies, Rats and Ants. [ARTICLE]

Egyptian Flies, Rats and Ants.

A large stable contained the twenty horses, which, by great care, had kept their condition. It was absolutely necessary to keep them in a dark stable on account of the flies, which attacked all animals in swarms. Even within the darkened building it was necessary to light fires composed of dried horseduhg, to drive away these persecuting insects. The hair fell completely off the ears and legs of the donkeys (which were allowed to ramble about), owing to the swarms of flies that irritated the skin; but in' spite of the comparative comfort of a stable the donkeys preferred a life of out-door independence, and fell off in condition if confined to a house. The worst flies were the small, gray ones with a long proboscis, similar to those that are often seen in houses in England. In an incredibly short time the station fell into shape. I constructed three magazines of galvanized iron, each eighty feet in height, and the head storekeeper, Mr. Marcopolo, at last completed his arduous task of storing the immense amount of supplies that had been contained in the fleet of vessels. This introduced us to the While Nile rats, which volunteered their services in thousands, and quickly took possession of the magazine by tunneling beneath and appearing in the midst of a rat’s paradise, among thou sands of bushels of rice, biscuit, lentils, etc. The destruction caused by these animals was frightful. They gnawed holes in the sacks, and the contents poured upon the ground like sand from an hour-glass, to be immediately attacked and destroyed by white ants. There was no lime in the country, nor stone of any kind, thus it was absolutely impossible to stop the ravages of white ants except by the constant labor of turning over the vast masses of boxes and stores to cleanse them from the earthen galleries which denote the presence of the termites.—” Ismailia ,” by Sir Samuel Baker.