292 GREAT ANNOYANCE 



This part of the Danube is exceedingly unin- 

 teresting, and the myriads of musquitoes render 

 the voyage disagreeable, and to some persons 

 intolerable. I have seen plenty of these trouble- 

 some gentry in the course of my life, but never 

 did I meet with any at all to be compared, either 

 in size, numbers, or voracity, to those vv^hich tor- 

 mented us at the entrance of the Danube. We tried 

 every imaginable contrivance to escape being 

 devoured by them, but vs^ithout success ; they 

 appeared to think nothing of biting through a 

 good thick pair of Russia duck trowsers, and it 

 w^as impossible to sit for five minutes in the cabin, 

 without being well marked by them. We tried 

 an experiment of burning some gunpowder with 

 the windows all closed, and then opening them 

 again. It was all useless. I oiled my face and 

 hands. It made no difference. Some wore 

 gloves and covered their faces, but were sure to 

 find on awaking in the morning, if, indeed, they 

 had the good fortune to sleep at all, a bracelet 

 round their wrists between the glove and wrist- 

 band of the shirt, and their faces swollen to an 

 unnatural size. One person tried a gauze veil, 

 but it was of little or no use. The Bavarian 



