260 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



should have to undergo from flies, that considerable 

 trouble was taken to design, as a protection against 

 them, a veil made of net, shaped like a bag open at 

 both ends : it Avas to be worn round the head, with 

 which it was prevented from coming in contact by 

 hoops made of fine crinoline wire. ]\Iuch expense 

 had also been incurred in providing each boat with 

 a can of stuff known to all salmon-fishermen in Xorth 

 America as mosquito oil. It is made with creosote 

 and pennyroyal ; and when the face is well anointed 

 with this disgusting unguent, no mosquito or other 

 winged torment will touch you as long as it is fresh. 

 The parties engaged in bringing up the boats by 

 river, and some of those stationed at places along 

 the road, were occasionally glad to use the veil to- 

 wards evening ; but after the final start of the force 

 from Shebandowan, the only use they were put to 

 was for straining water through on the Lake of the 

 Woods, where, as will be hereafter described, the 

 water was almost opaque from the vegetable matter 

 it held in suspension. The oil came in useful for 

 burning in the lamps when the supply taken for them 

 had been expended. 



Although the extreme measures of veils and oil 

 were not found necessary, yet whilst we were en- 

 camped in the woods, the mosquitoes were always 

 sufficiently annoying to render it desirable to have 

 as much smoke as possible round where you sat in 

 the evening, to keep them at a distance. In front of 



