448 THE COMMON GNAT. 



quetoes; and, as a means of effectual prevention^ 

 they made a second fire near the entrance of the 

 apartment, to stop the fresh myriads which, after 

 the death of these, would otherwise have rushed in 

 upon them from without. 



Smoke being found to keep Musquetoes at a 

 distance, the Laplanders generally contrive that, 

 while one man is milking the Rein-deer, another 

 shall hold a firebrand over him. By this contri- 

 vance the animals are kept quiet*. 



The buzzing of the Musquetoes is so very loud 

 as to disturb the rest of persons in the night al- 

 most as much as would be done by their bite. The 

 more opulent inhabitants of climates where they 

 abound usually sleep under nets of thin gauze. 



* Acerbi, ii. 5. 179. 



