Insects of all kinds were indeed a great pest, scorpions being by
no means uncommon, while large centipedes occasionally intruded
into the house. These creatures were a great trouble to the girls
in their dairy, for the frogs and toads would climb up the walls,
and fall squash into the milk-pans. The only way that they could be
at all kept out was by having the door sawn asunder three feet from
the ground, so that the lower half could be shut while the girls
were engaged inside. However, in spite of the utmost pains, the
little ones would crawl in through crevices, or leap in at the window;
and at last the girls had to get wicker-work covers made
for all the pans; and as the natives are very skillful at this
work, they were thus enabled to keep the milk clean. Almost as
great a trouble as the frogs were the brocachas, who committed
terrible havoc in the garden and among the crops. They are about
the size, and have somewhat the appearance of hares, and burrow in
immense quantities in the pampas. The only way to get rid of them
was by puffing the fumes of burning sulphur down into their holes;
and it was quite a part of the boys' regular work to go out with
the machine for the purpose, and to suffocate these troublesome
creatures. Their holes, however, are not so dangerous to horsemen
as are those of the armadillos, as the ground is always bare in
their neighborhood.
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