Boarded by Centipedes.
An account comes from New York of a strange adventure which happened recently on board of the schooner Lucy T. Harvey, which was sailing from Port Prince to Philadelphia. The schooner was manned by a crew of negroes. She had left Port Piince some days, when the captain and the crew were all surprised to see the deck invaded by hundreds of centipedes, insects whose bite is as dangerous as that of scorpions. They succeeded, however, in killing them all with boiling water. Some days later the steward ran from the hold with cries of terror, saying that it swarmed with centipedes and scorpions. Some of the crew, provided with lanterns, descended into the hold, and the insects, frightened by the light, came on the deck by thousands. The sailors, again frightened, sought refuge on the masts, and the captain could not make them descend. For two days the centipedes swarmed on the deck, and not one of the sailors would take the risk of quitting his refuge. A Newfoundland dog which was chained in front, having been bitten, died in a few days. The captain and mate, who remained at their posts, tried to destroy the insects by placing here and there pans of burning sulphur ; but they only killed a hundred, and there were thotxsands. At last a tempest, which under other circumstances would have been a great nuisance, arose, and tho sea swept the deck, and soon tho insects which had not been carried off by the waves died of cold. The schooner had a cargo composed of wood for building, and cedar, of which much was worm-eaten,and in the interior of which the centipedes had probably made their nests.
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Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 205, 28 May 1887, Page 5 (Supplement)
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286Boarded by Centipedes. Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 205, 28 May 1887, Page 5 (Supplement)
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