an who could shoot Phantom Falls to find out, "Its bite
is not severe, nor is it ordinarily poisonous. There may be an
occasional exception to this rule; but beside the bite of the mosquito,
it is comparatively mild and harmless." And again: "Gnats...in my way
of thinking, are much worse than the black fly or mosquito." So says
Murray. Our observations differ. A thousand mosquitoes and as many
gnats can bite me without leaving a mark, or having any effect save the
pain of the bite while they are at work. But each bite of the black fly
makes a separate and distinct boil, that will not heal and be well in
two months.

While fishing for brook trout in July last, I ran into a swarm of them
on Moose River and got badly bitten. I had carelessly left my medicine
behind. On the first of October the bites had not ceased to be painful,
and it was three months before they disappeared entirely. Frank
Forester says, in his Fish and Fishing, page 371, that he has never
fished for the red-fleshed trout of Hamilton county, "being deterred
therefrom by dread of that curse of the summer angler, the black fly,
which is to me especially venomous."

"Adirondack Murray" gives extended directions for beating these little
pests by the use of buckskin gloves with chamois gauntlets, Swiss mull,
fine muslin, etc. Then he advises a mixture of sweet oil and tar, which
is to be applied to face and hands; and he adds that it is easily
washed off, leaving the skin soft and smooth as an infant's; all of
which is true. But, more than forty years' experience in the woods has
taught me that the following recipe is infallible anywhere that
sancudos, moquims, or our own poisonous insects do most abound.

It was published in Forest and Stream in the summer of 1880 and again
in '83. It has been pretty widely quoted and adopted and I have never
known it to fail: Three ounces pine tar, two ounces castor oil, one
ounce pennyroyal oil. Simmer all together over a slow fire and bottle
for use. You will hardly need more than a two-ounce vial full in a
season. One ounce has lasted me six weeks in the woods. Rub it in
thoroughly and liberally at first, and after you have established a
good glaze, a little replenishing from day to day will be sufficient.
And don't fool with soap and towels where insects are plenty. A good
safe coat of this varnish grows better the longer it is kept on--and it
is cleanly and wholesome. If you get your face and hands crocky or
smutty