A PLAGUE OF FLIES. -> 



having in his missions the largest and most valiant 

 mosquitoes, at length gradually acknowledged that 

 the sting of the insects of the Cassiquiare was the 

 most painful he had ever felt. In these regions 

 there is no more repose for the traveller. If he 

 have any poetical remembrance of Dante, he will 

 think he has entered the citta dolente ; he will 

 seem to read on the rocks around these memorable 

 lines of the third Canto : 



Noi sem venuti al luogo, ov' i' t'ho detto 

 Che tu vedrai le genti dolorose.' 



" In the missions of the Oroonoko, the plague of 

 the flies affords an inexhaustible subject of conver- 

 sation. When two persons meet in the morning, 

 the first questions they address to each other are, 

 'How did you find the zancudoes during the night? 

 How are we to-day for the mosquitoes ?' I doubt 

 whether there is upon earth a country where man is 

 exposed to more cruel torments in the rainy season. 



'" How comfortable must people be in the moon!' 

 said a Galiva Indian to Father Gumilla ; ' she looks 

 so beautiful arid so clear, that she must be free 

 from moschettoes.' 



" These words, which denote the infancy of a 

 people, are very remarkable. The earth is, to the 

 American savage, the abode of the blessed, the 

 country of abundance. The Esquimaux, whose 

 riches are a plank, or a trunk of a tree carried by 



