MOSQUITOJiiS. 
or rather eaten. We collected a quantity of dry cow- 
dung, put it in a heap on the middle of the floor, and 
set fire to it, blowing it well into a red glow. When 
once lighted it burns and simmers like charcoal, and 
gives forth a dense smoke. Shut all the doors and 
windows and let the smoke accumulate inside : this 
smoke searches into the thatch, and drives all the 
mosquitoes out, but they are just driven out of their 
refuges to die, and the bungalow is got clear of them 
for a time, but plenty more would shortly return to be 
dealt with periodically in the same way. 
However, we got a temporary riddance of the pest, 
blit at the expense of having all our clothes, furniture, 
bedding, &c., smelling of the cure, so that it was some- 
times questionable whether the bite of the mosquitoes 
or the smell of the cure was the worst. This cure for 
mosquitoes I first saw practised in Australia, where 
they used to adopt a somewhat similar course of pro- 
ceeding when milking a cow after “baling up.” They 
would light a fire of it under the animal close to where 
the man sat milking, which served as a protection to 
both man and- beast, as no mosquitoes would venture 
into the influence of the smoke. 
But what I have ever found the best cure and pre- 
vention of the plague of insects, both in the “ days 
of old” and in modern times, is to keep a good venti- 
lation of air through the house : they don’t like fresh 
air and wind. On going on any expedition, during 
those times, one invariably found the bungalow unin- 
habitable on returning, merely because the servants 
or rather the man left in charge considered the best 
way to take charge was to shut up the house and go 
away, which of course then got full of insects. It is 
odd that whenever any building gets into disuse for a 
few weeks, or lines are uninhabited, this plague of 
insects should so increase. Just let any one be bold 
enough to enter lines in which have been no cooly 
inhafttants for a fortnight, and let him tell the result. 
One would naturally suppose that, when human beings 
left the lines, the parasites would also leave, instead 
of which they seem to increase. 
CHAPTER VII. 
Difficulties in the Despatch of Coffee. 
It was five o’clock in the afternoon, the kanganies 
were dismissed from the bungalow, the names were 
put down, the check-roll and journal were balanced, 
Mr. Brown’s day’s work was done, and h© had the 
rest of the evening to himself. In a corner of the 
verandah stood a table, on which was a cracked tea- 
pot, with a broken spout, a white tea-cup without 
