close to
the line, till we come to within about forty miles of Utica."

"And is that one as much infested with these infernal insects as are
the Cedar and Long Swamps."

"I guess _that_ is _the_ place above all for musquitoes," replied the
man grinning. "Thim's the real gallinippers, emigrating north for the
summer all the way from the Balize and Red River. Let a man go to sleep
with his head in a cast-iron kettle among thim chaps, and if their bills
don't make a watering-pot of it before morning, I'm d----d. They're
strong enough to lift the boat out of the canal, if they could only get
underneath her."

I found these swamps endless as Banquo's line: would they had been
shadows only; but alas! they were yet to be encountered, horrible
realities not to be evaded. I closed my eyes in absolute fear, and
forbore further inquiry.

Here I remained throughout the whole night, dozing a little between
whiles, but never foregoing my cigar for a minute. Towards daylight the
dew descended like rain, but brought with it no coolness to earth or
man: it felt exactly as though it had been boiled the day before, and
had not been left long enough to get cool.

During this day many of our men frequently threw themselves overboard,
clothes and all on, that is, in shirt and trousers, these being all of
habiliment that could be worn; I really feared that some of them who had
been a little too free in their cold applications, that is, of iced
water and brandy, would have gone mad.

This blessing of ice we were seldom many hours without, the poorest
hovel on the canal being commonly provided with it in sufficient
abundance to give us a supply. The inhabitants, I found, were suffering
from the unusual continuance of heat as much as strangers: at night they
built huge fires of pine before their doors, so that the thick smoke
might penetrate the dwelling, and scour the infernal musquitoes out of
it. At these fires we would find the poor women sitting in the smoke at
the risk of suffocation; pale, haggard, with their hair neglected and
dishevelled, looking like worn-out ghosts rather than living beings. The
oldest inhabitants on the line of the canal assured us they never
remembered any heat of three days' continuance which could compare to
this; and I believe them, since no man could long endure such a
visitation.

This evening our condition was in no way improved, except that we heard
the sound and felt the presence of a strong current