24 CRDISE OF STEAMER CORWIN IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 



the I'vo with a liooked needle aud a knife, which from the description appears to be the same as the 

 modern operation for pterygium. No operative procedure of the kitid came under observation; 

 but it was noticed that tlie use of a sliade for protection was (juite common, also eye-blinkers 

 made of wood in wliicli was cut a slit after the uianner of the stenopaic slit of oculists used to 

 correct astifjniatisni. 



From imperfect observation and the difli<niUy experienced in communicating iutellif^ently with 

 the Eskimo I was unable to determine whether acritochromacy existeil among them to any great 

 extent. That this functional trouble does exist we know from Nordeiiskiold, who ascertained the 

 fact after actual exi)erinuMit. Many of them, however, possess eye sight that is perfectly wonder- 

 ful, being endowed with the acuity of vision peculiar to nomads and iiunters who spend a great 

 deal of time in the open air, which enables them to descry distant objects oidy discernible to ordi- 

 nary eyes by means of a spy-glass. 



At several places I saw Eskimo using spy -glasses antl opera-glasses, witli tiie use of wliich 

 they were perfectly familiar. As far north as Point I'arrow, the northwestern extieniity of America, 

 I saw an old fellow with a i)air of o])era-glasses of French manufacture, which he carried carefully 

 protected in a skin bag hung around his neck. Another pair was in possession of a man at Cape 

 Kruzenstern, who showed how they were useful to him in stalking reindeer. 



AliCTir MOSQIITOKS. 



I\Ios(piitoes were found to be (piite troublesome at Saint .Michai^rs. How strange that thebu.sy 

 drone of the.-je little dipterous insects, recalling the solicitations for a pour hoire in a French cafe, 

 should importune one's ears at a spot so far north beyond the domain of the ordinary "globe trot- 

 ter"' and unknown to toui-istsi Tiie little pests are more widely distributed than the Innuit race or 

 the reindeer, to botii of wlioiu tiiey cause great annoyance during the short Arctic summer. Frail 

 as they are in body they iiave reached as far north as man has penetrated, having been found 

 by the Nares Expedition, aiul unlike other insects they seem to have no relations to the external 

 conditions by which they are surroundeil, being in fact cosuioi)olitau and iiaving no zoological 

 province. Not only are they nncontined to any limited or definite area, their distribution in 

 time is contemporaneous with if not antecedent to nmn, as their fossil remains have been found 

 in the Tertiary beds of the Lower White River, Colorado; and au instance is even recorded of their 

 atibrding uuiterial for Eskimo wit at Lieutenant Schwatka's expense, who was facetiously styled 

 by these i)eople " the big mos(iuito." 



Mr. Seebolnn, a naturalist who visited Northern Siberia to study the birds, wi-ites: 



Hut there is out ji;re;it drawback to visitin}; tlus cliuvuiing country, and that is the reason wliy it is so frequented by 



hirds — tlie myriads of mosquitoe-s. Life witliout a veil I belle\e would be perfectly unendurable. I w;is obliged to weir 



thick leather glove.s, and on many ocuisions, when shooting, if I Wiis too long in taking aim, I ha<l to shakethe barrel to get 



the mosquitoes oft', aud then take another aim quickly before they lighted again, otherwise I could not see the bird at all. 



Arctic mosquitoes as encountered by us surpassed anything I have ever seen in New Jersey, 

 for instance, where it is said they collect at times in such clouds around village church steeples as 

 to be mistaken for smoke and cause an alarm of fire. Although they were worse than anything that 

 I ever experienced at such places as Tybee Island, Georgia, the New Orleans (]uarantine station, or 

 on the Rio Grande River, they differ from the southern insect in several resiiects. In the first place 

 they are more pilose and more plumose, and have not so much uimbleness and activity, in conse- 

 quence of which they are unable to get out of the way quickly and can easily be killed almost by 

 the handful; but they seem to be just as venomous and persistent as their southern congeners. 



Owing to their excessive annoyance, at times it was found to be almost impossible to use the 

 instruments in taking observations when the position of a spot on shore was to be determined. 

 On one occasion at a desolate spot on the top of Chamisso Island, about 1200 feet above the sea 

 level, we found an astronomical station, which had been established by parties from English ships 

 in search of Sir John Franklin, and near it was a notice telling souiethiug about a bottle buried 

 BO many feet to the magnetic north. Curiosity, of course, ])rompted to get it by all means, but the 

 mosquitoes coming in such myriads actually caused the search to be abandoned. Many of the men 

 of the Corwin's crew were seriously incomiaoded by their bites and stings on exposed parts of the 

 body, one man's neck and face being so swollen from this cause that he was temporarily deprived 

 of eyesight. 



