Camping and woodcraft - Scoutmastercg.com

PESTS OF THE WOODS 259will spring for each other in a flash, and both areabsolutely game to the last.Centipedes.— I have had no personal experiencewith centipedes. Paul Fountain says:" The centipedes were an intolerable nuisance for theyhad a nasty habit of hiding among the bed-clothes and underthe pillows, attracted there to prey on the bugs, as Isuppose ;one evil as a set-off to another. But the reiitipedeswere something more than a mere nuisance. Jt is allvery well to be blandly told by gentlemen who think theyknow all about it that the bites of centipedes and scorpionsare not dangerous. It may not be particularly dangerousto have a red-hot wire applied to your flesh, but it is confoundedlypainful. Yet that is to be preferred to a centipedebite, which will not only make you dance at the timeof infliction, but leave a painful swelling for many day?after, accompanied by great disturbance of the system."The cowpunchers' remedy for centipede bites, ac-^wording to Mr. Hough, was " a chaw of tobacco onthe outside and a horn of whiskey on the inside,both repeated frequently. "Porcupines.—In northern woods the porcupineis a common nuisance. It is a stupid beast, devoidof rear, and an inveterate camp marauder. Youmay kick it or club it unmercifully, yet it will returnagain and again to forage and destroy. The*'porky " has an insistent craving for salt, and willgnaw anything that has the least saline flavor, anythingthat perspiring hands have touched, such asan axe-handle, a gunstock, a canoe paddle, and wnllruin the article. He is also ford of leather, andwill chew up your saddle, bridle, shoes, gloves,belts, the sweat-band of your hat, or any sweatycloth or rope. Foodstuffs that are salty or greasyare never safe from him unless hung up on wires-Porcupine quills, being barbed, are hard to extract.When they break off they work deep intothe flesh. They are poisonous, in a way, and causeseverepain.The porcupine is not found south of the Canadianfaunal zone, which extends well down into9ur northern States.