MOSQUITOES 67 



appeared. Dr. Bagg spent the month of August there, 

 and found no use for nets, dopes, or other means of 

 fighting winged pests; there were none. What the 

 secret was no one at present knows, but it would be a 

 priceless thing to find. 



Now, lest I should do injustice to the Northland that 

 will some day be an empire peopled with white men, let 

 me say that there are three belts of mosquito country 

 the Barren Grounds, where they are worst and endure 

 for 2J months; the spruce forest, where they are bad 

 and continue for 2 months, and the great arable region 

 of wheat, that takes in Athabaska and Saskatchewan, 

 where the flies are a nuisance for 6 or 7 weeks, but no 

 more so than they were in Ontario, Michigan, Mani- 

 toba, and formerly England; and where the cultiva- 

 tion of the land will soon reduce them to insignificance, 

 as it has invariably done in other similar regions. It 

 is quite remarkable in the north-west that such plagues 

 are most numerous in the more remote regions, and 

 they disappear in proportion as the country is opened 

 up and settled. 



Finally, it is a relief to know that these mosquitoes 

 convey no disease even the far-spread malaria is un- 

 known in the region. 



Why did I not take a "dope" or "fly repellent," 

 ask many of my friends. 



In answer I can only say I have never before been 

 where mosquitoes were bad enough to need one. I 

 had had no experience with fly-dope. I had heard 

 that they are not very effectual, and so did not add 

 one to the outfit. I can say now it was a mistake to 



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