884 JAMAICA, 



body that prefents itfelf moft favourably. In thofe places where 

 they are very numerous, as in the neighbourhood of water, it is 

 iieceflkry to guard againft them by day, as well as in the night, 

 efpecially in calm weather, at which time they are eafily difturbed, 

 and put in motion. In fuch places, the ufual guard for the legs is 

 the mu(keeto-boot, or a kind of half-trouzer, made of linen, tied 

 above the knee, and reaching to the flioes ; but, at night, they 

 are kept off by a Ikreen of lawn, or gauze, which enclofes the .j 

 bed inftead of curtains, and, being tucked in on every fide, pre- 

 vents their entrance. Thefe muikeeto-nets, as they are called, 

 from having been ufed at firft near the coaft, and in the lowlands, 

 are now grown into general ufe ; and we obferve them in thofe 

 elevated parts to which thefe infeds feldom, if ever, afcend. But, 

 although few parts of the ifland are totally free at all times from 

 fome, yet their fwarms are far lefs numerous near the coaft, than 

 either on the coaft of the North or South-American con- 

 tinent. The North-Americans are obliged to wear paper under 

 their ftockings, and wrapped round their legs. In the hot months, 

 they are annually vifited with prodigious multitudes; whofe fting, 

 or rather bite, is far more inflammatory than has been obferved in 

 this ifland, where, the pores being kept in a more uniform ftate 

 of relaxation, their pundlure is made with more eafe, and lefs fe- 

 verity. So foon as one of thefe infeifls has perched upon the hand 

 or face, it fhoots out its probofcis, whofe point is fo fine, that it 

 enters the pores, but continues penetrating very flowly till it 

 reaches fome one of thofe delicate ramifications of the blood which 

 circulate near the furface: the muflceeto then begins to fet its little 

 pump, or tube, at work, firft, by means of a well-difpofed me- 

 chanifrn, exhaufting it of the air contained initj after which, the 

 blood rifes according to the laws of hydroftatics, and continues its 

 afcent in a full tide till this diminutive canibal is perfecftly fatiated, 

 and its body dilated to fuch a fize, that it is fcarcely able to with- 

 draw its weapon and retire. The probofcis enlarges, or fwells, at 

 the fame time; infomuch that, by drawing the fkin tight, and fo 

 ilraightening the orifice, 1 have feen them pinned down like a bear 

 to a ftakc, and difabled from efcaping, notwithftanding all their 

 ftruggles. If they are fuftered to drink their fill without being mo- 



kfted. 



