The Argosy — page 245: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Remembrances of Constantinople. 231 By the dim light of,a small lamp, so placed in a recess that it served to illumine two cabins, I wearily watched the creatures on ceiling and wall. Partially slumbering, I continued to see them, but fancy magni- fied them to ten times their real size, and I felt myself engaged in a Laocoon struggle for existence. When at last from fatigue I really slept I was soon awakened by something on my cheek. Instinctively my fingers sought the cause of annoyance, and with a shudder I cast from me one of the harmless but disgusting crawlers that were invading me on all sides, ~ The day was scarcely better than the night. A sirocco wind was . blowing, the sky and sea were leaden, the heat oppressive ; and, silent and dejected, everyone knew that his neighbour was dreading the hour ‘ of darkness and the return to our cabins, where, indeed, again “ the, worms they crept in, and the worms they crept out,” The settled melancholy and misery on every face, when once more we met at breakfast, was suddenly turned to grifn laughter, as one of our party, a gallant captain, casting from him with considerable energy one of our tormentors, exclaimed, shaking himself: ‘“ They get into my, brushes, into my neck, into my hair, into my whiskers, till I don't know whether I’m a man or a maggot.” . It is time to inquire into the cause of this terrible invasion. = It appears that from every fig there comes forth one maggot. For the most part they make their exit during the voyage to England. But I am told the families of grocers are painfully aware that some of them remain prisoners for a longer period. Whether they increase in’ size after leaving their native home, or what change they undergo, I did not learn. It was a mystery how the creatures made their way out ef closely packed drums, placed by hundreds in cases, stowed deep ‘in the hold, and in the course of a few hours penetrated every nook and corner of the vessel. We hailed with joy our arrival in the beautiful harbour of Valetta, and have never failed to caution our friends against venturing into a vessel in company with figs from ‘Smyma. comicbooks.com