ven our sense of suffering from the musquitoes, which hovered
in clouds about our heads. Two parallel chains of hills extended towards
the setting sun, their various projecting outlines exhibiting the
several gradations of distance, and the opposite bases closing at the
horizon. On the nearest eminence, the objects were clearly defined by
their dark shadows; the yellow rays blended their softening hues with
brilliant green on the next, and beyond it all distinction melted into
gray and purple. In the long valley between, the smooth and colourless
Clear Water River wound its spiral course, broken and shattered by
encroaching woods. An exuberance of rich herbage covered the soil, and
lofty trees climbed the precipice at our feet, hiding its brink with
their summits. Impatient as we were, and blinded with pain, we paid a
tribute of admiration, which this beautiful landscape is capable of
exciting, unaided by the borrowed charms of a calm atmosphere, glowing
with the vivid tints of evening.

We descended to the banks of the Clear Water River, and having encamped,
the two men returned to assist their companions. We had sometimes before
procured a little rest, by closing the tent, and burning wood, or
flashing gunpowder within, the smoke driving the musquitoes into the
crannies of the ground. But this remedy was now ineffectual, though we
employed it so perseveringly, as to hazard suffocation: they swarmed
under our blankets, goring us with their envenomed trunks, and steeping
our clothes in blood. We rose at daylight in a fever, and our misery was
unmitigated during our whole stay.

The musquitoes of America resemble, in shape, those of Africa and
Europe, but differ essentially in size and other particulars. There are
two distinct species, the largest of which is brown, and the smallest
black. Where they are bred cannot easily be determined, for they are
numerous in every soil. They make their first appearance in May, and the
cold destroys them in September; in July they are most voracious; and
fortunately for the traders, the journeys from the trading posts to the
factories are generally concluded at that period. The food of the
musquito is blood, which it can extract by penetrating the hide of a
buffalo; and if it is not disturbed, it gorges itself so as to swell its
body into a transparent globe. The wound does not swell, like that of
the African musquito, but it is infinitely more painful; and when
multiplied an hundred