Not far away the village tom-tom chopped my patience into little bits. Thousands of hard-working mosquitoes took possession of my legs, but I didn’t dare set foot on the ground because of the scorpions and snakes which, I assumed, had started on their abominable hunting expeditions. The snakes had plenty of rats to choose from, rats were gnawing away at everything that can be gnawed, I heard them on the wall, on the floor, and quivering, ready to drop, on the ceiling.

Finally the moon rose, and things were a little quieter in the shanty. All things considered, life in the colonies was no great shakes.

— Louis-Ferdinand Céline, Journey to the End of the Night