IN THE CAPE SABLE WILDERNESS 
51 
cases the strips stuck to the edge of the him, 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 hlms 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 hght all the 
time. Incamp mustbe main¬ 
tained a constant smudge, 
preferably of dead wood of 
the black mangrove, which 
“ sheets ” 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 off 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 
THE ROOKERY 
