se of bruises or slight
wounds, will give great relief.

Another preparation in very common use amongst hunters and woodsmen,
although not quite as agreeable in odor, consists of a mixture of
common tar and sweet oil, in equal parts. By some this liniment
is considered superior to the other, inasmuch as it also prevents
tanning, and is beneficial to the complexion.

[Page 256]
During the night time, the tent or shanty often becomes swarmed
with the winged pests, and their nocturnal assaults are proverbial
for their pertinacity and severity. Their thirst for blood overcomes
every other instinct, and pennyroyal often ceases to have any effect.
Our Adirondack guide, in narrating his experience with these insect
vampires, even says that on a certain night, becoming exasperated at
their indomitable perseverance, and, getting tired of the monotonous
occupation of spreading ointment, he arose, lit his candle, and drove
the creatures out of the tent. He then buttoned up the opening, and
retired to rest. A storm came up in the night, and so completely
had his canvas been riddled by the bills of the mosquitoes, that
the rain poured through his tent as through a sieve.

We have heard of the man who, when pursued by hungry mosquitoes,
took refuge beneath a large chaldron, and, by the aid of a stone,
clinched the blood-thirsty bills as they protruded in quest of his
life-blood, until, by the united efforts of the winged captives,
the chaldron was lifted and wafted out of sight, as if it were a
feather.

One story is just as true as the other, and a summer in the Adirondack
woods will tend to strengthen, rather than diminish, the belief in
either.

The smoke of smouldering birch bark will effectually drive away
the mosquitoes from the tents at night. This method is commonly
known as "the smudge," and is more fully described in another part
of this work.

The smell of the smoke is often unpleasant at first, but it is always
preferable to the insect bites.

Mosquitoes are not the only vampires which infest our wooded lands.
The "punkeys" and "midgets" can outstrip them for voracity and the
painful character of the wound which they inflict. The "punkey,"
or "black-fly," as it is called, is a small, black gnat, about the
size of a garden ant, and the bite of the insect often results
very seriously. The midget is a minute little creature, and is the
most everlastingly sticky and exasperating pest in the catalogue
of human torm