The Worthington advance., 1878-10-03
The Home OF Mosquitoes. j.

.F.ii -. ! t,-Na f-SsA
Z, ,"Young man, yau don't know what =
mosquito isl You have maybe, been
worried by single mosquito, and thought
of doing awful things. Maybe! you board
ed wero they were too economical to put.
up nets, or maybe you have been fishing
in some Of these Illinois lakes; but with,
out you have been. to the tropics, or up
the Missouri river, you are baby when
it comes down to mosquitoes. Up there
you get them in every style; and shape.
Same of them are pretty ard some Of
them ugly; some are big and some little,
but all the same-big, little, black, brown,
red or green-they all have agreed upon
the one thing-they all bite, and bite hard.
1t is always considered necessary up there
to wear net over the face and to glove
the hands. That is no protection this
summer. A new brand Of mosquitoes
the boys call them "skeaters"-was in
troauced this summer by Providence.
They are 80 small that they penetrate the
meshes OF the finest net. The bigger one
will bite through your clothes-yes,
through your boots and buckskin gloves.
There IS no getting away from them. When
they kill cattle it is pretty tough, isn't
it,"
"On the cattle9 Yes"
swell, sir, we saw poor cattle rush
down into the water and wade until every.
thing was covered but their heads, and
then the pests would light on their heads
n swarms, and bite their noses, and every
place they could settle on. until the poor
things beloved in their agony, and closed
their eyes and tossed their heads. If they
were human they would commit suicide
As it is they are driven mad. Poor things,
they are nothing but skin and bones;
mere skeletons, clothed in swollen and
liberated skins. Some of the boys killed
few of them, but they were not fit to
bring on buard. Same way with all the
animals. Antelope and deer were re-
duced to nothing but skeletons by tie
vampires. If you held your hand out tor
quarter of minute, it would be covered
with mosquitoes that it would look like
you had gre on. The sufferings of
the m Il were awful. 1t is supposed that
the M ural oil of the negro's skin is Of
fensive to the pests. That IS not so. They
took to the negroes like babe to its
milk. I'll tell you how we were able to
get through. took down my stovepipes
and kept smokey fires burning all the
time. I had to have two small hand
furnaces making smoke in the pilot house
all the time, so that the pilots could work.
The men were all broke up. Every limb
wes swelled up, and you could not have
recognized the features of your own
bro :. The smoke was the only pro-
tee .iol, and it was pretty near as bad as
the mosquitoes. The eyes OF all the men
were hloodshot. Life was misery.
'''' - mosquito latitude begins about
seventy i've miles below Bismarck, and
is good for seventy-tive above that point.
There never was season like this one
before. For the first time in many wears
they had up there what you would call
snow. At Fort Benton-and just look a
your map and you will find it about ~
deg. latitude, and that's pretty far north
= they didn't put up ton of ice. About
the first of March the rainy season set in.
There has not been twelve good days
since. l will venture to say, and mind
you know all about the country, more
rain has fallen in that latitude this year
than in the fifteen years previous. Veg.
citation is rank and tropical Its luxuri
ance. Weeds Of unusually ordinary
growth are higher than mans head, and
from the water mosquitoes are bred by
the million.
III you publish what I have been tell.
ing you about the pests, some people will
laugh aud call it exaggeration. Young
man, couldn't begin TO give you an idea
Of their numbers. They fly in clouds
They obstruct the light Of the sun. They
are ravenous. They are as bad in the
day as in the night. Talk about the To-
Gusts Of Egypt or the grasshoppers o
Kansas, they are nothing. They drive 8
man almost crazy. Just think of prefer
ing to sit in binding and sitting smoke
rather than venture outside where the
mosquitoes would get at them. Rattle,
would I prc menade twenty hours day
thr rough the yellow fever district of New
Orleans than go through the experience
with mosquitoes that I had this summer
1t is awful. I can give you no idea OF
the nuisance. the torture"
And the Captain aimed vicious blow
at a sleepy fly that was buzzing around
and then got up and walked vigorously
around to shake off the memory of this
Upper Missouri mosquito misery.