ORDER VII. TWO-WINGED INSECTS, OR FLIES. 315 



On the road, at a distance of every four or five versts 

 (three or four English miles), we found a military post of 

 about a dozen Cossacks, keeping themselves and their horses 

 under ground, except one sentinel, who was standing upon 

 a scaffold twelve feet high, in order to watch any inimical 

 movements of the Circassians, to repulse their attacks, and, 

 in case of one, to give notice of it to the two nearest posts 

 by means of the ancient Persian telegraph, viz. : by igniting 

 a bundle of straw, which was then fastened to the top of a 

 high pole and elevated. At midnight our misery reached 

 its climax. Though covered with a wide cloak, the mos- 

 quitoes entered every opening, and inflicted upon us such 

 painful wounds that our faces were so swollen we could 

 scarcely recognize one another. To our joy a large camp- 

 fire was seen at some distance, which, according to the 

 driver's assurance, was the post-station, where fresh horses 

 could be had. We arrived at the spot, and with great pre- 

 cipitation left the carriage, running in haste to the fire, near 

 which a large dog was howling and running as if mad ; the 

 horses, as soon as they were unharnessed, sprang into the 

 fire to get rid of the mosquitoes, and only with difficulty 

 could they be removed to the subterranean stable, where the 

 postmaster, a half-invalid officer of the army, with some 

 men and a number of imperial horses, resided. The officer 

 immediately ordered fresh horses for us, and, looking from 

 under a very heavy covering at our pitiful condition, told 

 us to hurry on, and by daybreak we should arrive at the 

 next station, where we could find comfortable houses and 

 be relieved from the attacks of mosquitoes. In less than 

 five minutes the horses were harnessed, and the Kussian 

 word Boshoal, " Go on," from the commander to the new 

 driver, was music to our ears. When we arrived at the 

 next station we stopped at the first house, the owner of 

 which was a captain of the Cossacks, who received us with 

 the usual hospitality, inborn in the Russians of all grades. 



