A PLAGUE OF EGYPT. Ill 



us from advancing as we could have done on dry ground. 

 Nevertheless we accomplished ten leagues on the first 

 day, preceded by a herd of deer, whose graceful move- 

 ments and tossing antlers we could discern for several 

 miles ahead of us. 



These prairies, at the epoch of which I speak, were 

 dreary and barren ; but when the sweet spring-time 

 comes, they bloom like gardens of flowers, whose delight- 

 ful odours please the smell, just as their beautiful colours 

 gratify the sight. Clouds of butterflies, with brilliantly- 

 spotted wings, dispute with the humming-birds the 

 plunder of all this honied wealth ; but, alas ! every 

 medal has its reverse, and innumerable mosquitoes a 

 true plague of Egypt render this Eden uninhabitable. 

 Collecting in dense swarms, like bees on emerging from 

 their hives, they form in bodies so compact that a hun- 

 dred swarms will be found in a square inch. When 

 these cruel insects attack a bison or a stag, they torture 

 it to death in a most agonizing manner. It is a remark- 

 able fact that they never pursue man ; and it is only in 

 the hottest hours of summer that they rise above the 

 marshes. The stags, to escape their attacks, plunge 

 underneath the water, allowing only their nostrils to 

 remain uncovered. 



Three days after our departure from Sainte-Genevieve 

 we arrived on the bank of the Ohio ; and a wreath of 

 light smoke, rising from the roof of a house a hundred 

 yards in front of us, promised us a dinner and a bed. 

 The mistress, an excellent woman, received us with 

 cordial hospitality. While her two sons admiringly re- 

 garded our two-barrelled rifles, and we dried our clothes 



