340 MOSQUITOS. 



84° in the shade. Apart from the great annoyance 

 of the mosquitos, it was curious to notice one of 

 these Httle torments settle upon one's skin, and how 

 its shrunk carcase distended to quadruple its original 

 size as it gorged itself with blood, the crimson fluid 

 showing plainly beneath, until at last it became 

 almost incapable of flight. Each one of these tiny 

 creatures will extract a large drop of blood, so that 

 where they are numerous one may suffer consider- 

 ably by their homoeopathic phlebotomy as well as by 

 the distressing irritation they produce. 



After quitting Point Separation on the 20th, we 

 followed the easternmost channel of the delta, and found 

 the mosquitos ten times worse than ever. We un- 

 fortunately landed near a swamp in the hope of finding 

 a moose, and took myriads more of our persecutors 

 into the boats on re-embarking ; a smoky fire had no 

 effect in persuading them to quit their well-relished 

 sanguineous fare, and they were so thick that our 

 joking tars declared they checked the boat's progress 

 down the stream : but the reality was no joke ; little 

 sleep was obtainable, for to enfold one's self in blankets 

 was to be tormented with heat, and in remaining 

 uncovered one received a thousand tiny stings until 

 the nerves became almost insupportably excited. 



On the morning of the 22nd, the Arctic ocean was 



