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Se by, B. Corneliuses "329 
iges 3 es : - 
r of 1816, when it began to be gene- : 
ses of travellers: So far as I recollect, it 
three hours after encountering this litile insect. Or, if the 
animal were fortunate enough to live, a sickness followed, 
commonly attended with the sudden and entire shedding of 
hair, which rendered the brute unfit for use. Unwilling te 
believe that effects so dreadful could be produced by a cause 
apparently trifling, travellers began to suspect that the 
Indians, or others, of whom they obtained food for their 
horses, had, for some base and selfish end, mingled poison 
with it. The greatest precaution was observed. ‘They re- 
fused to stop at any house on the way, and carried, for the 
distance of forty or fifty miles, their own provision ; t after 
all suffered the same calamities. This excited a serious in- 
quiry into the true cause of their distress. The fly, which 
as been mentioned, was known to be a most singular insect, 
and peculiarly troublesome to horses. At length it was ad- 
mitted by all, that the cause of the evils complained of could 
be no other than this insect. Other precautions have since 
been observed, particularly that of riding over the road in- 
fested with it in the night; and now it happens that compara- 
tively few horses are destroyed. I am unable to describe it 
rom my own observation. I passed over the same road in 
April last, only two weeks after it disappeared, and was obliged 
to take the description from others. Its color is a dark 
brown; it has an elongated head, with a small and sharp pro- e 
bescis; and is in size between the gnat and musqueto. 
When it alights upon a horse, it darts through the hair, much 
like a gnat, and never quits its hold until removed by force. 
When a horse stops to drink, swarms fly about: the head, and 
crowd into the mouth, nostrils, and ears; hence it is supposed 
the poison is communicated inwardly. Whether this be: true 
or not, the most fatal consequences result. It is singular, 
a 
