MOSQUITOES 67 



appeared. Dr. Bagg spent the month of August there, 

 and found no use for nets, dopes, or other means of 

 fighting winged pests; there were none. What the 

 secret was no one at present knows, but it would be a 

 priceless thing to find. 



Now, lest I should do injustice to the Northland that 

 will some day be an empire peopled with white men, let 

 me say that there are three belts of mosquito country — 

 the Barren Grounds, where they are worst and endure 

 for 2| months; the spruce forest, where they are bad 

 and continue for 2 months, and the great arable region 

 of wheat, that takes in Athabaska and Saskatchewan, 

 where the flies are a nuisance for 6 or 7 weeks, but no 

 more so than they were in Ontario, Michigan, Mani- 

 toba, and formerly England; and where the cultiva- 

 tion of the land will soon reduce them to insignificance, 

 as it has invariably done in other similar regions. It 

 is quite remarkable in the north-west that such plagues 

 are most numerous in the more remote regions, and 

 they disappear in proportion as the country is opened 

 up and settled. 



Finally, it is a relief to know that these mosquitoes 

 convey no disease — even the far-spread malaria is un- 

 known in the region. 



Why did I not take a "dope" or "fly repellent," 

 ask many of my friends. 



In answer I can only say I have never before been 

 where mosquitoes were bad enough to need one. I 

 had had no experience with fly-dope. I had heard 

 that they are not very effectual, and so did not add 

 one to the outfit. I can say now it was a mistake to 



