160 



MOSQUITOES 



mosquitoes inflicted their torments upon us. 

 We were dreadfully annoyed by them, from 

 the swampy country we had to traverse, and 

 I was glad to start with the dawn of the fol- 

 lowing morning, from a spot where they 

 literally blackened a small canvass tent that 

 was pitched, and hovered around us in clouds 

 so as to render life itself burdensome. The day, 

 however, afforded us very little relief, while 

 walking, nearly ancle deep in water, through 

 the marshes ; and such was their torture upon 

 the poor animals, that we frequently saw the 

 deer coming out of the woods, apparently 

 almost blinded and distracted with their num- 

 bers, to rush into the water on the shore for 

 relief. This gave an opportunity to the hunter 

 to kill two of them in the course of the after- 

 noon, so that we had plenty of venison, and a 

 good supply of wild fowl, which he had shot 

 for our evening repast. We started at sun- 

 rise the next morning, after having had but 

 little sleep, as I had been wrapped in my 

 blanket almost to suffocation, to escape in a 

 degree the misery of our unceasing torment. 

 Towards noon, we had much better walking than 

 we had before met with, and were relieved from 

 the mosquitoes by a change of wind blowing cold 

 from off the ice, which was now seen from the 



