The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1888-10-04
MOSQUITOES IN ARCTIC REGIONS.
The New Jersey Insect Cannot Hold q Cam
die to Them,

cit is not necessary to go around
the world to learn something new"
said sun-browned traveller in the
rooms of the Geographical Society yes
terday.
''The other day I accompanied Col.
Bronson of Brooklyn to funeral out
in Jersey. You know that Long
Islanders have a prejudice against
New Jersey and everything in it. The
mosquitoes were pretty bad at the
funeral, and while the Colonel stood
among the weeping friends at the
grave l could see the mosquitoes bor-
ing into him and his lips moving-not
in prayer, however. As we were cross
ing the ferry on our way home his un-
spoken opinions of New Jersey and
its mosquitoes came to the surface
and were expressed more vigorously
than eloquently. The substance of his
adjectiyes 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 assur-
ing him that the further north one
goes the more mosquitoes he will find.
In fact, they become positively danger
Here Telegram reporter who had
been listening asked for particulars.
Resuming his conversation, the tray
eler said: Il 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
disputed his passage northward
throughout the entire length of the
river to where it empties into the Arc
tic basin. Sir John Franklin, DIR.
Richardson, and Capt. 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 the mosquitoes
have been known to drive reindeer
from an entire district, and that grizzly
bears have been found stung to death
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
that on a 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
fine strands of whalebone In the door
of each tent is kept smudge fire that
fills the tent and eyes with smoke uu-
til what with mosquito bites and in
famed eyelids sleepis impossible. So,
too, in Northern Siberia, travellers and
hunters have to wear a calico curtain
around their heads with horsehair
window in front to admit air and allow
them to see the way. The curtain is
to protect them from mosquitoes and
sunburn from the suns direct rays and
the reflection from the snow. No, sir.
New Jersey is not the worst place in
the world for mosquitoes. ."-Nea0 York
Telegram.