annoyance; many a night have I been obliged to sit up, tormented and
tortured by the bite of these insects. It is hardly possible to
protect provisions from the attacks of the baraten and ants. The
latter, in fact, often appear in long trains of immeasureable
length, pursuing their course over every obstacle which stands in
the way. During my stay in the country at Herr Geiger's, I beheld a
swarm of this description traverse a portion of the house. It was
really most interesting to see what a regular line they formed;
nothing could make them deviate from the direction they had first
determined on. Madame Geiger told me that she was one night awoke
by a horrible itching; she sprang immediately out of bed, and beheld
a swarm of ants of the above description pass over her bed. There
is no remedy for this; the end of the procession, which often lasts
four or six hours, must be waited for with patience. Provisions are
to some extent protected from them, by placing the legs of the
tables and presses in plates filled with water. Clothes and linen
are laid in tightly-fitting tin canisters, to protect them, not only
from the ants, but also from the baraten and the damp.

The worst plague of all, however, are the sand-fleas, which attach
themselves to one's toes, underneath the nails, or sometimes to the
soles of the feet. The moment a person feels an itching in these
parts he must immediately look at the place; if he sees a small
black point surrounded by a small white ring, the former is the
flea, and the latter the eggs which it has laid in the flesh. The
first thing done is to loosen the skin all round as far as the white
ring is visible; the whole deposit is then extracted, and a little
snuff strewed in the empty space. The best plan is to call in the
first black you may happen to see, as they all perform this
operation very skilfully.