IN THE CAPE SABLE WILDERNESS 



51 



cases the strips stuck to the edge of the film, but this did not 

 seriously interfere with the usefulness of the plate. For future 

 outings I shall always use plates thus put up, avoiding those 

 packed with films in contact. 



After the departure of the other members of the company, 

 I camped for a week, with our guide, at our old headquarters. 

 Poor forlorn country ! Though the soil is suitable for the 

 raising of tropical fruits, 

 the lack of fresh water and 

 the terrible insect scourge 

 make it simply torture to 

 stay there. Clouds of mos- 

 quitoes allow their victim 

 not a moment's peace. One 

 must wear thick clothes, 

 and either don gloves and 

 screen-hat, or fight all the 

 time. Incampmustbe main- 

 tained a constant smudge, 

 preferably of dead wood of 

 the black mangrove, which 

 " skeets " and man alike de- 

 test. The name of the pest 

 is thus abbreviated in Cape 

 Sable dialect, because it is 

 the theme of themes, and it 



takes too long to keep saying " mosquito." Photographing 

 under these circumstances is decidedly an ordeal. Settlers 

 who pretend to any comfort at all screen their houses, and 

 keep outside the door a brush of palmetto leaves, with which 

 every visitor must beat of? the stinging swarm before dodging 

 within. Other settlers keep the smudge-pot going, and live in 

 smoke. There are also swarms of a terrible great fly, an inch 



WHITE IBISES IN " FLIGHT-LINE " FOR 

 THE ROOKERY 



