UNDER THE MAPLES 



VI. MOSQUITOES AND FLEAS 



Mosquitoes for the North and mainly fleas and 

 ticks for the South — this seems to be Nature's de- 

 cree, at least in this country. The mosquitoes of the 

 Far North pounce upon one suddenly and fero- 

 ciously, while our Jersey mosquitoes hesitate and 

 parley and make exasperating feints and passes. 

 On the tundra of Alaska, if I stopped for a moment a 

 ewarm of these insects rose out of the grass as if 

 they had been waiting for me all the years (as they 

 had) and were so hungry that they could not stand 

 upon the order of their proceeding, but came head- 

 long. 



In Jamaica the dogs were persecuted almost to 

 death by the fleas. They were the most sorry, 

 forlorn, and emaciated dogs I ever saw. Life was 

 evidently a burden to them. I remember that 

 Lewis and Clark, in their journey across the con- 

 tinent, were greatly pestered by fleas. I have 

 found that our woodchucks, when they "hole up" 

 in the fall, are full of fleas. 



VII. THE CHANGE OF CLIMATE IN SOUTHERN CALI- 

 FORNIA 



I HAVE just been reading, for the third time, 

 Dana's *'Two Years Before the Mast," my sojourn 

 near San Diego for a few months, where so many of 

 the scenes and events he describes took place, hav- 

 ing given me a renewed interest in the book. 



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