Mosquitoes ey Battalions. 
105 
thirsting for blood, forced their way with whole battalions into our, 
tents, even necessitating ns to leave our longed-for supper in the lurch. 
I had endured courageously many a patient ordeal both in the Colony 
and on the journey out already, but not even our Indians could make a 
stand against such an attack as this. Everybody made for their ham 
»nocks where, wrapped up in them, they escaped the painful stinging to 
a certain extent at least, while we Europeans just as speedily fixed up 
our mosquito nets. 
«560. But I hardly knew whether it was more trying outside or in- 
side the net because the stifled breathing entailed thereby almost became 
intolerable considering the oppressively damp atmosphere. With this 
suffocating sensation was now associated the uncanny feeling evoked by 
these harpies as they approached and soon withdrew to swarm again ail 
of a sudden right on the net like a lot of bees: their painful bites never- 
theless only too forcibly reminded me that more than one of them, which 
continued to attack me without a minute’s truce, must have discovered 
an entrance, but no exit. Only after midnight did the blood-curdling 
music come to an end, and daybreak afforded us some idea of the amount 
of blood we had lost on seeing the fully distended importunate invaders 
settled inside the net. It is with inward glee that one looks forward 
to early morn after so troublesome a night. 
361. This awful plague repeated itself daily at sundown, and often 
became twice as bad with approaching storm or rain when the swarms 
reinforced themselves into downright thick clouds. After midnight 
Miey hastened back to search the bank-mud among the intricate roots 
of the Rhizophora, the most suitable breeding-place for their develop- 
ment. 
362. Though plenty of life was stirring along the coast and on the 
Waini sandbank, the crowds of feathered residents seen here of a morn- 
ing, anxious for a feed, were far greater, judging from their size and 
plumage, than I had ever observed over there. As the lonely bush to- 
wards noon was alive with swarms searching for a shade, I took friend 
Stöckle with gun and ammunition in the hope of enriching my collec- 
tions. 
363. Amongst the numerous feathered folk 1 also found for the 
first time the dainty Anas auturnnalis Linn, in strings of from 16 to 20 
birds : the coloured people and Indians have given it the name from its 
peculiar piping whistle which is exactly like the syllables Vis-is-si. 1 
never saw this species subsequently in the interior. 
361. Had we not had Indians with us on the trip many of the birds 
we shot would of course have got away, because unless we had both 
wanted to risk the danger to which I had already been exposed on the 
Waini sandbank (Sect. 293), we did not dare follow them out on to the 
deep muddy mass. To remedy the inconvenience, and at the same time 
to watch this oftentimes ridiculous performance of mud-swimming, if 
such a term can be applied to the manoeuvre, I always arranged for one 
or two negroes or Indians to accompany us. Hardly had a »luck or any 
other bird, so long as it was tasty, dropped after being shot, especially 
while the ebb was on, than my dusky companions immediately threw 
themselves upon their stomachs and, with the serpentine windings 
