230 GNATS OR MOSQUITOES — CHAPTER VIII 



wire gauze, and hinged together into panels of convenient 

 size, two of which should, however, be filled with thin 

 planking, so as to protect the rest when packed up for 

 transport. About 8 ft. square would be a convenient size, 

 as to plan, but to carry a punkah, the panels would have to 

 be at least 10 ft. high, and even then the bed must be 

 made as low as possible. Some contrivance to prevent it 

 being shifted by the pull of the punkah would of course be 

 required, and probably the best plan would be to secure 

 the solid panels to the wall through which it is usually 

 pulled ; but details may best be left to individual ingenuity. 

 Whether the room be temporary or permanent, however, it 

 is absolutely essential that all furniture and hangings should 

 be absolutely excluded, excepting the beds, chair and small 

 table, so that I fear the plan will hardly meet the aesthetic 

 tastes of the " Memsahib." 



"When " in camp," or on other temporary absences, we 

 must still be content with the old curtains, and there is a 

 right and a wrong way of hanging these, the latter of which 

 is almost universally adopted, because it looks neater to 

 spread them over the iron or wooden frame, and thereby 

 leave gaps at the corners, which cannot be securely tucked 

 in on account of the poles, than to suspend them inside the 

 latter, so that these cannot obstruct complete security. The 

 weak point of the curtains, however, is that unless the bed 

 be very large and one can contrive to keep in the middle 

 of it, one is sure to be bitten through them, owing to the 

 limbs coming in contact with the net. 



Many people have an idea that the punkah is an efficient 

 protection against Mosquitoes, but this is entirely erroneous, 

 and I have watched one filling herself, quite undisturbed by 

 the towel pinned to the punkah-frill, which flicked my knee 

 within a couple of inches of the spot she had selected, at 

 every swing; but those who blame us for sacrificing security 

 to the comfort of a long- roped punkah, or for not swathing 

 our limbs in thick woollen putties with the thermometer at 

 98"^ in the shade, can know nothing of the climatic condi- 

 tions under which we must contrive to exist, and forget that 

 a restless night is a bad preparation for a tropical day, and 



