THE BLACK FLY. 119 



night following a mastication of this sort is dreadful. 

 Every bite swells to about the size of a filbert every bite 

 itches like a burn, and agonizes like a scald and if you 

 scratch them it only adds to your anguish the whole 

 head swells, particularly the glandular and cellular parts, 

 behind and under the ears, the upper and lower eyelids, so 

 as in many cases to produce utter inability to see. The 

 poison is imbibed and circulated through the whole frame, 

 producing fever, thirst, heat, restlessness and despondency. 

 Patience, cooling medicines, and strict temperance are the 

 only remedies : the best preventives are temperance and 

 fly oil ; the latter should be composed of equal portions of 

 castor and fine almond or olive oil, strongly scented with 

 essence of pennyroyal and spirits of camphor. This 

 mixture, carried in a soda-water bottle, and frequently 

 applied to the exposed parts of the head and face, will be 

 found in general a preventive. Gauntlets which draw 

 over the sleeves of the coat, made of jean or some other 

 light and strong material, will be found particularly useful 

 in defending the hands and wrists from the cruel attacks of 

 the terrible winged insects, who are certainly the greatest 

 drawback to the enjoyment of the sportsman in Canada. 



That good and kind man the Bishop of Quebec, during 

 a journey to the Ked Eiver in 1844, wrote the following 

 lines, amongst others, in his sweet " Songs of the Wilder- 



14 



