by E. Cornelius. 32S 



mischief, until the winter of 1816, when it began to be gene- 

 rally fatal to the horses of travellers. So far as I recollect, it 

 was stated, that from thirty to forty travelling horses were 

 destroyed during this winter. The consequences were alarm- 

 ing. In the wilderness, where a man's horse is his chief 

 dependence, the traveller was surprised and distressed to see 

 the beast sicken and die in convulsions, sometimes within 

 three hours after encountering this little insect. Or if the 

 animal were fortunate enough to live, a sickness followed, 

 commonly attended with the sudden and entire shedding of the 

 hair, which rendered the brute unfit for use. Unwilling to 

 believe that effects so dreadful could be produced by a cause 

 apparently trifling, travellers began to suspect that the 

 Indians, or others, of whom they obtained food for their 

 horses, had, for some base and selfish end, mingled poison 

 with it. The greatest precaution was observed. They re- 

 fused to stop at any house on the way, and carried, for the 

 distance of forty or fifty miles, their own provision ; but after 

 all suffered the same calamities. This excited a serious in- 

 quiry into the true cause of their distress. The fly, which 

 has been mentioned, was known to be a most singular insect, 

 and peculiarly troublesome to horses. At length it was ad- 

 mitted by all, that the cause of the evils complained of could 

 be no other than this insect. Other precautions have since 

 been observed, particularly that of riding over the road in- 

 fested with it in the night ; and now it happens that compara- 

 tively few horses are destroyed. I am unable to describe it 

 from my own observation. I passed over the same road ia 

 April last, only two weeks after it disappeared, and was obliged 

 to take the description from others. Its colour is a dark 

 brown ; it has an elongated head, with a small and sharp pro- 

 boscis ; and is in size between the gnat and musqueto. 

 When it alights upon a horse, it darts through the hair, much 

 like a gnat, and never quits its hold until removed by force. 

 When a horse steps to drink, swarms fly about the head, and 

 crowd into the mouth, nostrils, and ears ; hence it is supposed 

 the poison is communicated inwardly. Whether this be true 

 or not, the most fatal consequences result. It is singular. 



