The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1896-09-28
MOSQUITOES. g.


Most Numerous
No one of experienue would van-
ture 70 aav which is-the country
most affiicted mosquitoes, much
more the spot. But it is something
to osfdentify the place which all who
have visited il, saving one traveller,
declare unrivRled. Such visitors
have been few, but every one of them
was man specially qualified TO pro-
nounca It Is acAnal, but Of natures
forming, which connects the Sara
wax and Samaharan rivers of Bor-
neo. Boats using5 it avoid aEea pas
sage and gain several hours in time /
and ON the homeward voyage espe-
cfally Malays are very far nom in
Edifferent to such advantages. But, I
though a storm be raging outside
they think twice before rislrirg the
short cut. In fact, it is officers of
the government charged with impor-
tant rews or belated and sick for q
Christian welcome before sleeping
who dare the horrors of that pas
sage. Naval officers also have used
it not infrequently, gatherings q yarn
to spin for the rest of their natural
lives. Sir Spencer St. John is the
single witness who thinks there is
one, more terrible place on earth,
and. that, F." says he, lis Pahnam, at
the entrance to the Siam river.
Sir Spencer proceeds: "Is took us
the whole night to get through, and
no one was able to close his eyes.
/ The leaves of the nipa palms nearly
met over our heads, and every time
4 one was touched swarm of mos
quitoes settled upon us. ] endeav-
ored to shelter myself under q
blanket, but the heat was SO great
! as to compel me to unwillingly face
i the enemy. have heard Of men
exposed to this annoyance being
thrown into fever by constant irri-
tation, and I can well believe it.
The last remark must allude to
natives and to the irritation of mos
quitoes in a general sense, for it is
really bathos applied to this partio-
ular spot. Once ON time we also
longed for Christian society and in
sisted upon taking the short cut
The mosquitoes were so thick that
one could not see the paddler in the
bows. Clapping ones palms together
one felt the crush of insects between
them, and a black paste remained,
but we did not spend more than an
hour happily in getting through. A
J few days afterward Captain Reid of
her majesty's ship Rifeman passed,
going on a visit to the rajah. For
three years he had been surveying
in the China seas, and his crew was
Injured to mosquitoes, if men can be.
But with difficulty they reached
Kuohing, and four were taken
straight to hospital. Doubtless the
q oars in that narrow passage, shaking
j. the nipa leaves, which are half SUBJ
merged, brought every mosquito
= within reach upon them.
How do the small fiends live? The
? question obtrudes itself in spots like
! this. Evidently they get no taste OF
: blood. Men do not pass once in a
l week. Animals there are none in a
2 grove of nipa palms, always under
r water. So far as we can see, their
, lancets and sucking tubes serve nc
purpose, for if they eat one another
all tho ingenious apparatus is un.
I necessary. 1t is the same case with
, deas in southern Europe and else
: where. The cornfelds are alive with
them, and, though at harvest time
one in millions may find victim
generations have lived and died il
the months preceding. Darwin s ex
= periments with insect eating plants
+ may possibly throw light upon the
!. matter. Keeping some under condi
tions which forbade them to catct
} insects, and others of the same spe
2 cies unrestrained, he found that, al
though both grew and lowered Will
equal vigor apparently, those de
prived of animal food did not readi
ly set their seed or ripen it whe1
set, while the young plants were
weakly. A supply of insects appears
4 to be necessary for the preservation
of the species. So, perhaps, the
, minute proportion of mosquitoe:
! which find dead fish or something OF
; the sort keep the pernicious breed
t fourishing. Pail Mall Gazette.
The Ruling Spirit Strong.