THE PEKIBONCA AND TSCHOTAGAMA 197 



There are other insects, too, in this part of the coun- 

 try, and some of them in great abundance, especially 

 black flies, sand-flies, and mosquitoes. And we had, 

 unfortunately, selected for our trip the very height 

 of the fly season. Haggard found them particularly 

 bad, and had brought no ointment with him, being an 

 unbeliever in its efficacy. Let him tell his story in his 

 own words : 



"It is a well-known fact that flies and mosquitoes bite a good 

 deal up the Canadian rivers. The magnificent Peribonca proved to 

 be no exception. . . . But Chambers had come prepared for them. 

 One night in camp, when they were particularly bad, I saw him 

 anointing himself all over with some patent fly - repellent. He 

 shone like the sun and smelled like a peppermint-drop when the 

 operation was finished. I sat by and sneered at him, saying that I 

 had been in India and did not believe in fly - repellents, etc. But 

 let those laugh who win. He sat there shining and smiling, and 

 the flies flew around and around, but never alighted on him more ; 

 therefore, being convinced, I turned myself into a peppermint-drop 

 in turn. Only one mosquito ventured to alight on my hand ; he 

 walked all along the back of it, tapping it with his trunk to try it, 

 as in India an elephant does a bridge to see if it is safe, and then he 

 gave it up and flew sorrowfully away, saying to himself, 'I have 

 been deceived; I came to eat man, and lo ! it is only pepper- 

 mint.'" 



The colonel's description of the sport afforded by 

 the ouananiche of Tschotagama will doubtless be read 

 with interest. He says : 



"But the fish were stiff and only came occasionally, and after 

 an hour or two's fishing I found myself saying, in the words of the 

 ingenue of Pink Dominoes, 'This is not what I came here for.' 

 But if the fish were, as the Scots say, 'dour,' they were magnifi- 

 cent when hooked. Springing out of the water repeatedly to the 

 height of five and six feet, they glistened in the sun like silver, and 

 fell back again into the water like little fat pigs, such a splash did 



