es about five miles from the north side.
Several species of fish were found in them though they have no known
communication with any other body of water, being situated on the
elevation of the height. The road was a gentle ascent, miry from the late
rainy weather and shaded by pines, poplars, birches, and cypresses, which
terminated our view. On the north side we discovered through an opening
in the trees that we were on a hill eight or nine hundred feet high and
at the edge of a steep descent. We were prepared to expect an extensive
prospect, but the magnificent scene before us was so superior to what the
nature of the country had promised that it banished even our sense of
suffering from the mosquitoes 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 mosquitoes 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 mosquitoes 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 b