196 . A VOYAGE TO Book V. 



it, than we were attacked on all sides with innumera- 

 ble swarms of nioschitos ; so that we were so far from 

 having any rest there, that it was impossible for a per- 

 son, susceptible of feeling, to be one moment quiet. 

 Those who had covered themselves with their mos- 

 chito cloths, after taking ihc greatest care that none of 

 these malignant insects were contained in them, found 

 themselves in a moment so attacked on all sides, that 

 they were oblig;ed soon to return to the place they 

 had quitted. Those who were in the house, hoping 

 that they should find some relief in the open fields, 

 ventured out, though in danger of suffering in a more 

 terrible manner from the serpents; but were soon con- 

 vinced of their mistake ; it been impossible to deter- 

 mine which was the most supportable place, within 

 the moschito cloth, without it, or in the open fields. 

 In short, no expedient was of any use against their 

 numbers. The smoke of the trees we burnt, to dis- 

 perse these infernal insects, besides almost choking 

 us, seemed rather to augment than diminish their 

 multitudes. At day-break, we could not without 

 concern look upon each other. Our faces were 

 Swelled, and our hands covered v*'ith painful tumours, 

 which sufficiently indicated the condition of the other 

 parts of our bodies exposed to the attacks of those 

 insects. The following night we took up our quar- 

 ters in a house inhabited, but not free from mos- 

 chitos; though in much less numbers than before. 

 On informing our host of the deplorable manner in 

 which we had spent the preceding night, he gravely 

 told us that the house we so greatly complained of 

 had been forsaken on account of its being the pur- 

 gatory of a soul. To which one of our company wit-1 

 tily answered, that it was much more natural to think , 

 that it was forsaken on account of its being a purga* 

 tory for the body. 



The mules being arrived at Caracol, we set out on 

 the 141 b of T'J.iy, and after travelling four leagues, 



through 



