lack.
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 mosquito 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 mosquito, but it
is infinitely more painful; and when multiplied a hundredfold and
continued for so many successive days it becomes an evil of such
magnitude that cold, famine, and every other concomitant of an
inhospitable climate must yield the pre-eminence to it. It chases the
buffalo to the plains, irritating him to madness; and the reindeer to the
seashore, from which they do not return till the scourge has ceased.

On the 6th the thermometer was 106 degrees in the sun and on the 7th 110
degrees. The mosquitoes sought the shade in the heat of the day. It was
some satisfaction to us to see the havoc made among them by a large and
beautiful species of dragonfly called the mosquito hawk, which wheeled
through their retreats swallowing their prey without a momentary
diminution of speed. But the temporary relief that we had hoped for was
only an exchange of tormentors: our new assailant, the horsefly, or
bulldog, ranged in the hottest glare of the sun and carried off a portion
of flesh at each attack. Another noxious insect, the smallest but not the
least formidable, was the sandfly known in Canada by the name of the
brulot. To such annoyance all travellers must submit, and it would be
unworthy to complain of that grievance in the pursuit of knowledge which
is endured for the sake of profit. This detail of it has only been as an
excuse for the scantiness of our observations on the most interesting
part of the country through which we passed.

The north side of the Methye Portage is in latitude 56 degrees 41 minutes
40 seconds North and longitude 109 degrees 52 minutes 0 seconds West. It
is of course one hundred and twenty-four miles from Isle a la Crosse and
considered as a branch of the Missinippi, five hundred and ninety-two
miles from the Frog Portage. The Clear Water River passing through the
valley, described above, evidently rises not far to the eastward. T