March, 1848. PLAGUE OF INSECTS. 81 



Trees, also, are rare, and of stunted growth ; Figs, the 

 Artocarpus and some Legumiviosce prevail most. I saw 

 but two kinds of palm, the fan-palm, and Phoenix: the 

 latter is characteristic of the driest locality. Then, for 

 the animal creation, men, women, and children abound, 

 both on the banks, and plying up and down the Ganges. 

 The humped cow (of which the ox- is used for draught) 

 is common. Camels I occasionally observed, and more 

 rarely the elephant; poneys, goats, and dogs muster 

 strong. Porpoises and alligators infest the river, even 

 above Benares. Flies and mosquitos are terrible pests • 

 and so are the odious flying-bugs,* which insinuate them- 

 selves between one's skin and clothes, diffusing a dreadful 

 odour, which is increased by any attempt to touch or 

 remove them. In the evening it was impossible to keep 

 insects out of the boat, or to hinder their putting the lights 

 out ; and of these the most intolerable was the above- 

 mentioned flying-bug. Saucy crickets, too, swarm, and 

 spring up at one's face, whilst mosquitos maintain a constant 

 guerilla warfare, trying to the patience no less than to the 

 nerves. Thick webs of the gossamer spider float across the 

 river during the heat of the day, as coarse as fine thread, 

 and being inhaled keep tickling the nose and lips. 



On the 18th, the morning commenced with a dust- 

 storm, the horizon was about 20 yards off, and ashy white 

 with clouds of sand ; the trees were scarcely visible, and 

 every thing 'in my boat was covered with a fine coat of im- 

 palpable powder, collected from the boundless alluvial plains 

 through which the Ganges flows. Trees were scarcely 

 discernible, and so dry was the wind that drops of water 

 vanished like magic. Neither ferns, mosses, nor lichens 

 grow along the banks of the Ganges, they cannot survive the 



* Large Hemipterous insects, of the genus Derccteryx. 



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