*LAQA DE LAB MOftCAS. 27,1 



ground to the height of twelve or fifteen feet. At May- 

 pnres the Indians quit the village at night, to go and sleep 

 on the little islets in the midst of the cataracts. There 

 they enjoy some rest; the mosquitos appearing to shun 

 air loaded with vapours. We found everywhere fewer in 

 the middle of the river than near its banks ; and thus less 

 is suffered in descending the Orinoco than in going up in a 

 boat. 



Persons who have not navigated the great rivers of 

 equinoctial America, for instance, the Orinoco and the 

 Magdalena, can scarcely conceive how, at every instant, 

 without intermission, you may be tormented by insects 

 flying in the air; and how the multitude of these little 

 animals may render vast regions almost uninhabitable. 

 Whatever fortitude be exercised to endure pain without 

 complaint, whatever interest may be felt in the objects of 

 scientific research, it is impossible not to be constantly 

 disturbed by the mosquitos, zancudos, jejens, and tempra- 

 neros, that cover the face and hands, pierce the clothes 

 with their long needle-formed suckers, and getting into 

 the mouth and nostrils, occasion coughing and sneezing 

 whenever any attempt is made to speak in the open air. 

 In the missions of the Orinoco, in the villages on the banks 

 of the river, surrounded by immense forests, the plaga de las 

 moscas, or the plague of the mosquitos, affords an inex- 

 haustible subject of conversation. When two persons meet 

 in the morning, the first questions they address to each 

 other are : " How did. you find the zancudos during the 

 night? How are we to-day for the mosquitos?" * These 

 questions remind us of a Chinese form of politeness, whicli 

 indicates the ancient state of the country where it took 

 birth. Salutations were made heretofore in the Celestial 

 empire in the following words, vou-to-hou, " Have you been 

 incommoded in the night by the serpents ?" 



The geographical distribution of i/he insects of the family 

 of tipuhe presents very remarkable phenomena. It does 

 not appear to depend solely on heat of climate, excess of 

 humidity, or the thickness of forests, but on local cir- 





Que lc hat parecido los saner: doa d noche ? Como stamoi boy da 

 mosquitos ? 



VOL. II. 



