PERSISTENT MOSQUITOES 
in the gabled and tower mountains we had observed for 
some days to the southwest. 
Again during the night I saw to the west the phe¬ 
nomenon of the previous evening repeated: the strange 
flashes directly under and occasionally to the left of the 
brilliant planet, that is to say to the right of the person 
observing it. 
This was from Camp Areal, where we suffered terribly 
during the day from our friends the pium, which filled 
our eyes and ears and stung us all over; and at sunset 
from the polvora or polvorinha (or powder), so called 
because of their infinitesimal size: most persistent mos¬ 
quitoes, so greedy that they preferred to be squashed 
rather than escape when they were sucking our blood on 
our hands and faces. Fortunately, during the night — 
with the cold (minimum Fahrenheit 56°) — we had a little 
respite, and these brutes disappeared, only to return to 
their attack at sunrise with the warmth of the sun. At 
nine a.m. the thermometer already registered a tempera¬ 
ture of 95° Fahrenheit in the sun — a jump of 39°, which, 
notwithstanding mosquitoes and pium, my men greatly 
enjoyed. 
I have never seen men suffer more from the cold than 
my followers. They were simply paralyzed and frozen 
at that comparatively high temperature. They moaned 
and groaned and wept all night, although they slept in 
their clothes and were tightly wrapped up in heavy 
blankets. Moreover, they had spread a heavy waterproof 
double tent over the lot of them, as they lay closely packed 
to one another, covering heads and all, and had arranged 
a blazing fire large enough to roast an ox quite close to 
them. 
Personally, I was quite happy under a mere shelter 
tent, open on all sides, owing to preceding experiences, 
so that I could see what was going on all around, without 
getting up from my camp bed. I had merely a thin, 
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