1691.] TROUBLESOME VERMIN. 89 



to give the Eeader a true Idxa of the Place, take notice of 

 the disagreeable and inconvenient things in it : I shall 

 begin with what we first saw. As soon as we Landed, we 

 were surrounded by a prodigious Number of certain little 

 Flies which cover'd us. 'Twas in vain to kill them, for after 

 you had bruis'd ten Thousand of them to pieces, they wou'd 

 be no more mist, than ten drops of Water in the Sea. 'Tis 

 true, these little Creatures did not sting ; all the Inconveni- 

 ence they put us to was a little tickling when they touch'd 

 our Faces. They retire to the Trees as soon as the Sun is 

 down, and leave them when it liises. They always seek 

 shelter, and the mild cooling Breeze ; and after we had 

 fell'd the Trees about the Place where we built our Cabins, 

 it e.xpos'd them so much to the Wind, that it drove 'em to 

 the Woods, and delivered all the extent of our Habitations 

 entirely from them. But we met witli them every where 

 when we walkt out into the Island. 



There's also a kind of great Flies which do not fear the 

 Wind as the others do, and are very Troublesom. Their 

 Bellies are fall of Worms, which they lay on our Meat, and 

 sometimes let ^em fall as they fly along, so that those Pro- 

 visions quickly tainted, when, instead of leaving them open 

 to the Air, we wrapt them up in Linen. The only means 

 we found out to cure this Evil, was to dip them in Sea- 

 Water from time to time. The Nerves or Fibres of the 

 Stalks of our Plantane-Leaves wou'd have made an excellent 

 fine Trellis which those Flies cou'd not Penetrate, and with 

 which we might have made a Safe to secure our Meat, but 

 we did not think of that Machine. 



The Eats were our second Plague, they are like tliose in 

 Europe, are very Numerous, and very Troublesome. 



They did not only eat the Seed we sow'd, but came into our 

 Cabbins, and nibbled everything they found there. I am 

 apt to doubt whether Mr. de Eochcfort was well inform'd 

 when he wrote there were no liats in the American Islands 



