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Six of them by means of bamboos can carry a very large block of granite to any distance. Their ingenuity is very surprising. There are a few cows, and a few goats to be seen, but there is little verdure except for the goats and mountain sheep. The Chinese dogs are not worth a straw, except to eat, and their flavour is no doubt not so bad. They keep cats in hutches like rabbits; and feed them with rice till they are in good condition for eating. Rats are very abundant; pigs abound, for pork is the chief native food. The birds are not very numerous. Fowls are sold by the pound, at the same price as pork. Geese the same. Wild birds are not allowed to multiply very much. There is the common house sparrow, magpie, the wag-tail, and different species of pigeons. Insects are far too plentiful. Butterflies as large as birds. In fact I have sometimes to look for some time to distinguish whether what I see is a bird or a butterfly. Spiders are very large, and look like young crabs. Cockroaches and beetles are also quite gigantic and very plentiful. They eat up whatever they can get hold of, not being particular whether it is books, shoes, hats, clothes, or food.
The ants are the worst of all the vermin; black ones are like those in England, perhaps smaller, and not injurious. They take however a great fancy to hair-brushes, so that before you can use one you have to knock out all the inhabitants. They get everywhere, but one does not mind them. The white ants however are greatly dreaded. In one night they will completely destroy a box of clothes, so that in the morning you may find the fragments of the box, that will crumble in your fingers, and find nothing but a few rags and dust for the clothes. They get everywhere. The other day I happened to notice something wrong in a box of Mongolian bibles in the Lumber room. On taking it out, the box fell to pieces, and there were just a few fragments of leaves left, the books being all reduced to black looking dust. I have to be very careful of my boxes, and stand them on bricks to keep them off the ground, which is considered as some protection. The only way to preserve food, etc., is to stand each leg of the meat-safe in a small bowl of water, so that they cannot get at it. The same with things kept in cupboards, etc. These things however do not trouble me in the least, for the servant has all that to attend to. The mosquitoes, that were represented to me as so formidable and annoying, seem quite a hoax. Neither at Batavia nor here, have I so much as seen one. I have no clear idea what they are like; as to being bitten by them, it is out of the question. Mosquitoes to me are quite fabulous. Perhaps however I am one of the favoured ones whom they do not molest. At Batavia I had
150
Six of them by means of bamboos can carry a very large block of granite to any distance. Their ingenuity is very surprising. There are a few cows, and a few goats to be seen, but there is little verdure except for the goats and mountain sheep. The Chinese dogs are not worth a straw, except to eat, and their flavour is no doubt not so bad. They keep cats in hutches like rabbits; and feed them with rice till they are in good condition for eating, Rats are very abundant; pigs abound, for pork is the chief native food. The birds are not very numerous. Fowls are sold by the pound, at the same price as pork. Geese the same. Wild birds are not allowed to multiply very much. There is the common house sparrow, magpie, the wag-tail, and different species of pigeons. Insects are far too plentiful. Butterflies as large as birds. In fact I have sometimes to look for some time to distinguish whether what I see is a bird or a butterfly. Spiders are very large, and look like young crabs. Cockroaches and beetles are also quite gigantic and very plentiful. They eat up whatever they can get hold of, not being particular whether it is books, shoes, hats, clothes, or food.
AThe ants are the worst of all the vermin; black ones are like those in England, perhaps smaller, and not injurious. They take however a great fancy to hair-brushes, so that before you can use one you have to knock out all the inhabitants. They get everywhere, but one does not mind them. The white ants however are greatly dreaded. In one night they will completely destroy a box of clothes, so that in the morning you may find the fragments of the box, that will crumble in your fingers, and find nothing but a few rags and dust for the clothes. They get everywhere. The other day I happened to notice something wrong in a box of Mongolian bibles in the Lumber room. On taking it out, the box fell to pieces, and there were just a few fragments of leaves left, the books being all reduced to black looking dust. I have to be very careful of my boxes, and stand them on bricks to keep them off the ground, which is considered as some protection. The only way to preserve food, etc., is to stand each leg of the meat-safe in a small bow! of water, so that they cannot get at it. The same with things kept in cupboards, etc. These things however do not trouble me in the least. for the servant has all that to attend to. The mosquitoes, that were represented to me as so formidable and annoying, seem quite a hoax. Neither at Batavia nor here, have I so much as seen one. I have no clear idea what they are like; as to being bitten by them, it is out of the question. Mosquitoes to me are quite fabulous. Perhaps however I am one of the favoured ones whom they do not molest. At Batavia I had
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