WAYS AND MEANS 



charily: when the sweat is coursing down 

 your nose, it is time to talk of being hot; 

 when one has to oil up on a rapid walk, 

 then the flies are truly bad. A few ad- 

 jectives ought to be laid by against need, 

 or the fitting word may have lost all its 

 freshness and bloom when the time comes 

 to speak of that lower deep beneath the 

 lowest deep. 



Flies hunt by scent. Their noses must 

 indeed be keen, and the human smell 

 vastly subtle to the creatures it attracts or 

 repels. The momentary slant of a winter 

 gale will turn a caribou at half a mile; 

 flies follow up their prey from afar. When 

 out on the water and free of them, beware 

 an approach to the lee side of lake or river; 

 on the other hand, you may work close to 

 the windward shore without risk of taking 

 on an unwelcome crew. A gentleman who 

 makes a living out of such queer know- 

 ledge, informs me that the lady mosquito 

 cannot lay her eggs 'till she has a full meal 

 of blood'. How the poor dear must hate 

 anyone who interposes a film of oil betwixt 

 her and her repast! For the clogging of her 

 delicate proboscis is inconvenient or fatal. 

 The conjecture is permissible that black- 

 flies and sand-flies have an equally good 

 247 



