THE MOSQUITO. 223 



hands and face, pierce his clothes, or creep into his nose and 

 mouth. In the missions of the Orinoco, in these small villages, 

 situated on the river banks and surrounded by interminable 

 woods, this plague affords an inexhaustible subject for conver- 

 sation. When two people meet in the morning their first 

 questions are — 'How did the Zancudos behave last night?' 

 ' How are the mosquitoes to-day? ' 



At the mouth of the Eed River the unfortunate inhabitants 



lay down at night upon the ground, and cover themselves with 



three or four inches of sand, so that only the head remains free, 



over whicli they spread a protecting cloth. Above the influx 



of the Eio Arauea into the Orinoco, at the cataracts of 



■Baragnon, the atmosphere up to a height of 15 or 21 feet, is 



filled with a dense mist of stinging insects. Placing oneself 



:'in some dark spot, for instance in one of the deep hollows 



formed in the cataracts by mounds of granitic blocks and 



^looking towards the opening illumined by the sun, one sees 



whole clouds of mosquitoes, increasing or diminishing in 



rdensity as the creatures in their slow and rhythmic motions 



i now draw more closely together, and then again separate. In 



'Esmeralda, at the eastern extremity of the Upper Orinoco, the 



'mosquito clouds are almost as thick as at the cataracts. When 



the superior of the monastic order to which the mission belongs, 



wishes to pimish a lay brother, he sends him to Esmeralda, or, 



s'^s the monks facetiously remark, ' condemns him to the 



; mosquitoes.' 



It is a well-known fact that the various species of gnats or 

 'flies comprehended under this general name, do not associate, 

 but appear at different times of the day. As often as the 

 scene changes or as 'other insects mount guard,' one enjoys a 

 few minutes'* rest ; for after the retreat of one host, its successors 

 are not immediately on the spot. From half-past six in the 

 morning till five in the afternoon the air is filled with mos- 

 quitoes of the genus Simulium. An hour before sunset, these 

 are replaced by a small species of Culex called the Tempraneros 

 or early-risei-s, as they also show themselves at sunrise. 

 Their stay in the afternoon scarcely lasts an hour and a half, 

 and then one feels soon after the painful sting of a larger 

 'Culex — the Zancudo — who, plunging his blood-thirsty proboscis 

 into the skin, causes an excruciating pain. The Zancudo, a 



