350 
MADAGASCAR. 
active and ubiquitous mosquito. The combined 
efforts and designs of east and west, of European 
and Oriental, of all races and languages, have failed 
to “ keep him out,” or destroy the malignity of 
his attacks. * What about curtains \ ” my reader 
asks timidly, and perhaps hopelessly. My answer 
is, that they are really of no avail. They lure you 
into a feeling of false security : you ensconce your 
head upon the pillow after a hard day’s work, 
and you prepare to sleep. All is silent as the 
grave, and the pleasant peace of all things living 
begins to tell upon the brain and nervous system 
by inducing a sense of repose in both. The eyes 
insensibly close, and the world appears to be 
slowly gliding away out of sight. The curtains 
have been securely tucked in on this occasion, 
because perhaps last night it was found that by 
some neglect of this precaution an entrance had 
been forced by the enemy, and the temper 
soured, and pleasant dreams changed into rest¬ 
less watchings by the presence of one—only one 
—of these dreaded enemies of all repose. But 
why prolong the story % First the soft buzzing 
sound of the approaching foe is heard; then fol¬ 
lows the attack direct, the repulse, the renewal 
of the assault, the execrations, the final triumph 
of the invisible enemy, and the battle only ceases, 
to be renewed with fresh vigour at uncertain 
intervals, without any prospect, sad to say, of 
