358 CHAPTER L. 



Another method of keeping off Mosquitos, which 

 may be described as humanitarian, is strongly recom- 

 mended by the same authority. It is very simple : 

 you place a saucerful of honey by your bedside, and 

 the Mosquitos are supposed to regale themselves with 

 this, instead of sucking your blood. With all defer- 

 ence to the opinion of Sir Thomas, I question whether 

 this carnivorous little vampire can be so suddenly 

 converted to a vegetarian diet. These sudden con- 

 versions are always more or less dubious. But I 

 leave it to my readers to try the experiment for 

 themselves. 



The plan adopted in Brazil is somewhat less 

 refined, but probably a good deal more effective. 

 The people here (says the great naturalist Wallace in 

 his delightful book about the Amazon valley) all use 

 cow-dung, burnt at their doors, to keep away the 

 " plague," as they very truly call the Mosquitos ; for 

 this is the only thing that has any effect. In the 

 evening every house and cottage has its pan of 

 burning dung, which gives rather an agreeable odour ; 

 and as there are plenty of cattle about, this necessary 

 of life is always to be procured. 



It is said that the Castor Oil Plant (Ricinus) 

 keeps off Mosquitos, and that it is grown near houses 

 in Egypt for this purpose. 



Canon Scott Holland is the inventor of a strategic 

 system. You are supposed to elude the hungry insect 

 by moving furtively from one bed to another. This 

 may be all very well if you have to deal with the 

 more unsophisticated sort, but the Riviera Mosquitos 

 could not be hoodwinked by any such manoeuvres ; 

 thev would soon find out which bed you are in. 



