ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. 127 



Orinoco wherewith to quench our thirst. Thus 

 have we with difficulty toiled, our hands and faces 

 swollen with mosquito bites, from Mondvaca to 

 the volcano of Duida, from the limits of Quito to 

 the frontier of Surinam through tracts of coun- 

 try extending over twenty thousand square miles, 

 in which no Indian is to be met with, and where 

 the traveller encounters only apes or serpents. 



"In Guiana the mosquitoes abound in such 

 clouds as to darken the air, and, as it is absolutely 

 necessary to keep head and hands constantly cov- 

 ered, no writing can be done by daylight ; the in- 

 tolerable pain produced by the attacks of these 

 insects renders it impossible to hold the pen steadily. 

 All our work had therefore to be carried on by the 

 light of a fire, in an Indian hut, where no ray of 

 sunlight could penetrate, and into which we had to 

 creep on our hands and knees. Here, if we escaped 

 the torment of the mosquitoes, we were almost 

 choked by the smoke. At Maypures, we and the 

 Indians took refuge in the midst of the cascade, 

 where the spray from the foaming stream kept off 

 the insects. At Higuerote, the people are accus- 

 tomed at night to lie buried three or four inches 

 deep in sand, with only the head exposed." 



Sometimes twenty-four Indians were in Hum- 

 boldt's employ for months together, and fourteen 

 mules were required to carry his instruments and 

 plants. 



After a year and a half spent in South America, 

 Humboldt sailed for Cuba, where he remained for 



