214 



MOSQUITOES. 



the Indians leave the village at night, and sleep on 

 the little islands in the midst of the cataracts, where 

 the insects are less numerous. Humboldt gives an 

 elaborate account of these creatures, of which, how- 

 ever, the most interesting particulars alone can be 

 here extracted. In the missions of the Orinoco, 

 when two persons meet in the morning, the first 

 questions are, " How did you find the zancudoes 

 during the night 1 How are we to-day for the mos- 

 quitoes ?" The plague of these animals, however, 

 is not so general in the torrid zone as is commonly 

 believed. On the table-lands that have an elevation 

 of more than 2558 feet, and in very dry plains at a 

 distance from rivers, they are not more numerous 

 than in Europe ; but along the valleys, as well as in 

 moist places on the coast, they continually harass 

 the traveller ; the lower stratum of air, to the height 

 of fifteen or twenty feet, being filled with a cloud of 

 venomous insects. It is a remarkable circumstance 

 that on the streams, the water of which is of a yel- 

 lowish-brown colour, the tipulary flies do not make 

 their appearance. Not less astonishing is the fact, 

 that the different kinds do not associate together ; 

 but that at certain hours of the day, distinct species, 

 as the missionaries say, mount guard. From half 

 after six in the morning till five in the afternoon the 

 air is filled with mosquitoes, which are of the genus 

 Simulium, and resemble a common fly. An hour 

 before sunset small gnats, called tempraneroes, suc- 

 ceed them, to disappear between six and seven; 

 after which zancudoes, a species of gnat with very 

 long legs, come abroad and continue until near sun- 

 rise, when the former again take their turn. Per- 

 sons born in the country, whether whites, mulattoes, 

 negroes, or Indians, all suffer from the sting of these 



place was not very agreeable, it was far preferable to being among swarms 

 of hungry mosquitoes where I had previously lodged. I enjoyed several 

 hours' sleep, and awoke considerably refreshed." — Robinson's Journal 

 of an Expedition up the Orinoco and Arauca. 



