144 NIGHT OF TORMENT. 



had left unclosed the least hole in his bag ; the 

 persevering musquitoes surely found it out, and as 

 surely drove the luckless occupant out of his re- 

 treat. I noticed one man dressed as if in the frozen 

 north, hold his bag over the fire till it was quite 

 full of smoke, and then get into it, a companion 

 securing the mouth over his head at the apparent 

 risk of suffocation ; he obtained three hours of what 

 he gratefully termed comfortable sleep, but when 

 he emerged from his shelter, where he had been 

 stewed up with the thermometer at 87^ his appear- 

 ance may be easily imagined. 



Our hands were in constant requisition to keep 

 the tormentors from the face and ears, which often 

 received a hearty whack, aimed in the fruitless 

 irritation of the moment at our assailants, and which 

 sometimes ended in adding head-ache to the list 

 of annoyances. Strike as you please, the cease- 

 less humming of the invincible musquito close to 

 your ear seems to mock his unhappy victim ! 



One poor fellow, whose patience was quite ex- 

 hausted, fairly jumped into the river to escape fur- 

 ther persecution. 



We had the wind from S.W. to S.E. during the 

 afternoon, but at 6 p.m. it veered round to N.N.W. 



While getting the observations for time and lati- 

 tude, some of us were compelled to remain quiet, 

 an opportunity our tiny assailants instantly availed 

 themselves of, covering our faces and hands. To 

 listen quietly to their hum, and feel their long stings 



