THE ALLEGASH AND EAST BRANCH. 
291 
a stump by the fire, with a veil and gloves on trying to 
read, he observed, “ I make you candle,” and in a minute 
he took a piece of birch bark about two inches wide 
and rolled it hard, like an allumette fifteen inches long, 
lit it, and fixed it by the other end horizontally in a split 
stick three feet high, stuck it in the ground, turning the 
blazing end to the wind, and telling me to snuff it from 
time to time. It answered the purpose of a candle pretty 
well. 
I noticed, as I had done before, that there was a lull 
among the mosquitoes about midnight, and that they 
began again in the morning. Nature is thus merciful. 
But apparently they need rest as well as we. Few if 
any creatures are equally active all night. As soon as it 
was light I saw, through my veil, that the inside of the 
tent about our heads w T as quite blackened with myriads, 
each one of their wings when flying, as has been calcu¬ 
lated, vibrating some three thousand times in a minute, 
and their combined hum was almost as bad to endure as 
their stings. I had an uncomfortable night on this ac¬ 
count, though I am not sure that one succeeded in his 
attempt to sting me. We did not suffer so much from 
insects on this excursion as the statements of some who 
have explored these woods in midsummer led us to an¬ 
ticipate. Yet I have no doubt that at some seasons and 
in some places they are a much more serious pest. The 
Jesuit Hierome Lalemant, of Quebec, reporting the death 
of Father Reni Menard, who was abandoned, lost his 
way, and died in the woods, among the Ontarios near 
Lake Superior, in 1661 , dwells chiefly on his probable 
sufferings from the attacks of mosquitoes when too weak 
to defend himself, adding that there was a frightful num¬ 
ber of them in those parts, “ and so insupportable,” says 
