Indeed, my hands and his for a
month afterward, were swollen and sore from the venom of these
abominable little pests. They are not like civilized mosquitoes, for no
amount of brushing or fanning will keep them away. Their sociability is
unbounded, and you have absolutely to push them off, a handful at a
time, while their places are at once filled by others, the air teeming
with them all the time. The natives keep their tents filled with smoke
from a slow, smouldering fire in the doorway, which is the only plan to
render them habitable at all; but the remedy is only one degree better
than the disease, as Captain Baker remarked to me, with his eyes filled
with tears. The only relief from these torments is a strong breeze from
the water, which carries them away; but even then it is not safe to
seek shelter in the lee of a tent, for there they swarm and are as
vigorous in their attacks as during a calm. The men wear mosquito-net
hoods over their heads and shoulders while in camp or hunting, and
women and children live in the smoke of their smouldering peat fires.
The shores of Hudson's Bay are low and barren, and abound in lakes of
every size and shape. They are too low to produce glaciers, but are
just right for the production of the finest crop of mosquitoes to be
found in the world, as has previously been remarked by Franklin,
Richardson, Back, and, indeed, all the explorers of this territory.
Pages:
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276