MOSQUITOES 



his face, nor could I imagine myself talking from 

 within the stifling folds of a brilliant green veil, so I 

 sought advice. One good Samaritan in the company 

 proffered a compound of his own concoction, which 

 he firmly believed would frighten any ordinary 

 mosquito yards away ; so I willingly and gladly 

 accepted the brown, gummy-looking stuff, and gave 

 my hands and face a good plastering with it. Quite 

 likely all the strength or virtue had long ago evapo- 

 rated out of the compound, for it had little or no 

 smell, and I realised afterwards, when it was too 

 late, that I had converted myself for all practical 

 purposes into an animated "fly-paper." For the 

 first few minutes the mosquitoes seemed rather 

 surprised ; they buzzed round my face in an angry 

 swarm, but hesitated to dip their trunks into the 

 paint. At last a bold pioneer made a dash for my 

 nose, and stuck fast. He hummed and buzzed and 

 struggled for his life. 



This was more than flesh and blood could 

 stand ; I tried to brush him off and squashed him ! 

 That was bad enough ; but worse was to follow, 

 for either the gnats were on their mettle, determined 

 to bite if they died for it, or else the tragic fate 

 of their leader fired them to frenzy, for they bit 

 and bit and bit ; and by the end of the hour I had 

 a fine swollen red face, shiny with treacle and all 

 dotted with black and somebody told me that 

 I looked like a currant bun. That was the last 

 trial I made of amateur compounds : since then I 

 have confined myself to the " dopes " that are to 

 be bought in the shops, and that are really of use. 



I spent part of my first July in building the 

 bridge over the stream that runs between Okak 



260 



