90 



by superincumbent blocks of granite, you direct 

 your eyes toward the opening- enlightened by the 

 sun, you see clouds of moschettoes more or less 

 thick, according as these little animals, in their 

 slow and regular movements to their own music 

 [mouvemens lents et cadences], form into groups, 

 or spread themselves abroad. At the mission 

 of San Borja, the suffering from moschettoes is 

 greater than at Carichana ; but in the raudales, 

 at Atures, and above all at Maypures, this suf- 

 fering may be said to attain it's maximum. I 

 doubt whether there be a country upon Earth, 

 where man is exposed to more cruel torments in 

 the rainy season. Having passed the fifth de- 

 gree of latitude, you are somewhat less stung ; 

 but on the Upper Oroonoko the stings are more 

 painful, because the heat, and the absolute want 

 of wind, renders the air more burning, and more 

 irritating in it's contact with the skin. 



"How comfortable must people be in the 

 moon !" said a Saliva Indian to father Gumilla ; 

 " she looks so beautiful and so clear, that she 

 must be free from moschettoes." These words, 

 which denote the infancy of a people, are very 

 remarkable. The satellite of the Earth is every 

 where to the American savage the abode of the 

 blessed, the country of abundance. The Eski- 

 mo, who counts among his riches a plank, a 

 trunk of a tree, thrown by the currents on a 

 coast destitute of vegetation, sees in the moon 



