156 



MOSQUITOS. 



two packages, to windward of the fire which we 

 had kindled, but multitudes of mosquitos rose 

 about midnight, which obliged me to remove 

 and lie down upon a hide to leeward ; the fire 

 was mostly composed of the dried ordure of 

 cattle, the smoke from which was so thick and 

 pungent as to prevent entirely any annoyance 

 from these troublesome insects, but the remedy 

 is bad enough, as it is almost impossible to open 

 your eyes or to speak. The misery of being 

 exposed to the myriads of mosquitos whicli 

 hovered around us this night, made us choose 

 the smoke as the more endurable evil. Not- 

 withstanding these inconveniences we had some 

 amusement at the distress of him whose fire was 

 allowed to burn low ; none of us slept much, for 

 attention to the fires obliged every one to be on 

 the alert. Towards morning the smoke was 

 scarcely sufficient to protect us from these tor- 

 menting insects. I now learnt that near to any 

 lake or pool of water, the highest ground is 

 always to be fixed upon for a night station ; even 

 the commandant upon the hill had fires to wind- 

 ward of the house during the whole of the night. 

 Early in the morning we continued our jour- 

 ney for some distance along the banks of the 

 lake, and then entered upon some open land, 

 which was now quite dry ; we slept under a 

 clump of trees, distant about twenty miles from 

 Piato. The cattle we saw this day, were in good 



