Afro-independent. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn. ;) 1888-1???, 1888-09-22
ARCTIC MOSQUITOES.
Fhe New Jersey Insect Can Not Hold y
Candle to Them.


rhe view Jersey Insect Can Not Hold
Candle to Them.
at is not necessary to go around the
world to learn something new, said
sun-browned traveller in the rooms OF
the Geographical Society.
The other day accompanied Col
onel Bronson, of Brooklyn, to funeral
out in Jersey. You know that Long
Islanders have a prejudice against New
Jersey and every thing in It, The
mosquitoes were pretty bad at the
funeral. and while the Colonel stood
among the weeping friends at the grave
could see the mosquitoes boring into
him and his lips moving-not in prayer,
however As we were crossing the
ferry on our way home his unspoken
opinions of New Jersey and its mo-
squitoes came to the surface and
were expressed more vigorously than
eloquently. The substance of his ad-
jectives was that New Jersey was
the worst place for mosquitoes in the
Union, and he would rather live at the
North Pole than be bitten to death in
New Jersey. That made me laugh, and
astonished the Colonel by assuring
him that the further north one goes the
more mosquitoes he will find In fact,
they become positively dangerous
around the Arctic Circle"
Here a reporter who had been listen
ing asked for particulars.
Resuming his conversation, the trav-
eler said: II mean what | say As
you go north the size and number of
mosquitoes increase. Along the Red
River of the North steamboat hands
and officers and passengers are forced
to wear sort of hoop-skirt netting
over their heads and necks to prevent
being poisoned by mosquitoes. When
the cows are MIXED in the corrals the
men burn smudges and make clouds of
smoke to keep off the insects, or the
milking could not be done at all.
'Sir George Back. in his report on
the discovery and voyage to the mouth
Of the river that bears his name, says
that the sailors and Indians cOmpris-
ing his party were almost driven back
by the myriads of mosquitoes that dis
puted his passage northward through
the entire length of the river to where
it empties into the Arctic basin. Sir
John Franklin, DIR. Richardson and
Captain Mackenzie say the same in
reference to their journeys in the
Arctic regions of North America.
Schwatka, in his report on the raft
journey he made down the Yukon
river, in Alaska, says that mosquitoes
have been known to drive reindeer
from an entire district. and that griz-
ely bear have been found stung to
Heath by these terrible insects, which
entered their nostrils in swarms and
attacked them where they could not
brush them away.
''Whalers in North Hudson Bay say
hat on still summer day in that vast
region life is not worth living on shore.
The lee side of every object will be
black with mosquitoes. The natives
have to wear cloths around their heads
With an opening in front barred with
inc strands of whalebone. In the
ioor of each tent is kept a smudge fire
that fills the tent and eyes with smoke
until what with mosquito bites and in
famed eyelids sleep is impossible. So,
100. in Northern Siberia, travellers and
hunters have to wear calico curtain
around their heads with hOrse-hair
window in front to admit air and allow
hem to see the way. The curtain is to
protect them from mosquitoes and sun
burn from the suns direct rays and
:he reflection from the snow. No, sir,
New Jersey is not the worst place in
he world for mosquitoes. IN. Y.
Telegram.