HOW WE FARED. 209 



powder. If only the smallest grain of it touched any 

 part of his person he was doomed ; and in about five 

 minutes would be sprawling helplessly on his back, pre- 

 paring to quit a world in which he had been so great a 

 nuisance. "Peppering the flies" became a regular 

 institution, the first business of each morning ; and in 

 all the rooms, most especially in the kitchen where the 

 whole atmosphere seemed one vast buzz the foe would 

 be driven, by the vigorous flapping of a cloth, into the 

 well-sprinkled windows where his fate awaited him. 

 Soon every fly would be dead ; and as we gloated over 

 the dustpans full of slain we invoked benedictions on 

 the name of Keating. 



By taking care to keep every door and window on 

 the sunny side of the house either closed or covered 

 with fine net, we managed, thanks to this delightful 

 powder, to exist in peace, instead of being given over 

 to the flies like our neighbours ; many of whom would 

 calmly submit to any nuisance rather than take a little 

 trouble to get rid of it, and would sit quite contentedly 

 in the midst of a buzzing cloud, with flies popping into 

 their tea one after another, or struggling by dozens in 

 the butter-dish. We found that one of the small bellows 

 made for blowing tobacco-smoke into bee-hives became, 

 when filled with Keating, a very formidable engine of 

 destruction ; a couple of puffs, sending the fine powder 

 in all directions, would settle every fly in the room. 

 In fact no one, even in the most tropical of climates, 

 need be troubled with flies, if only this simple remedy 

 is used. If I had but known of its efficacy a few years 



