Here was a well-known spot, a sort of little opening on a flat shore,
called the _Encampment_, because a party of boatmen coming down from
Lake Superior, and camping here for the night, were surprised by the
frost, and obliged to remain the whole winter till the opening of the
ice, in the spring. After rowing all this hot day till seven o'clock
against the wind (what there was of it), and against the current coming
rapidly and strongly down from Lake Superior, we did at length reach
this promised harbour of rest and refreshment. Alas! there was neither
for us; the moment our boat touched the shore, we were enveloped in a
cloud of mosquitoes. Fires were lighted instantly, six were burning in a
circle at once; we were well nigh suffocated and smoke-dried--all in
vain. At last we left the voyageurs to boil the kettle, and retreated to
our boat, desiring them to make us fast to a tree by a long rope; then
each of us taking an oar--I only wish you could have seen us--we pushed
off from the land, while the children were sweeping away the enemy with
green boughs. This being done, we commenced supper, really half
famished, and were too much engrossed to look about us. Suddenly we were
again surrounded by our adversaries; they came upon us in swarms, in
clouds, in myriads, entering our eyes, our noses, our mouths, stinging
till the blood followed. We had, unawares, and while absorbed in our
culinary operations, drifted into the shore, got entangled among the
roots of trees, and were with difficulty extricated, presenting all the
time a fair mark and a rich banquet for our detested tormentors. The
dear children cried with agony and impatience, and but for shame I could
almost have cried too.
I had suffered from these plagues in Italy; you too, by this time, may
probably know what they are in the southern countries of the old world;
but 'tis a jest, believe me, to encountering a forest full of them in
these wild regions. I had heard much, and much was I forewarned, but
never could have conceived the torture they can inflict, nor the
impossibility of escape, defence, or endurance. Some amiable person who
took an especial interest in our future welfare, in enumerating the
torments prepared for hardened sinners, assures us that they will be
stung by mosquitoes, all made of brass, and as large as black
beetles--he was an ignoramus and a bungler; you may credit me, that the
brass is quite an unnecessary improvement, and the increase of size
equally superfluous. Mosquitoes, as they exist in this upper world, are
as pretty and perfect a plague as the most ingenious amateur
sinner-tormentor ever devised. Observe, that a mosquito does not sting
like a wasp, or a gad-fly; he has a long proboscis like an awl, with
which he bores your veins and pumps the life-blood out of you, leaving
venom and fever behind. Enough of mosquitoes--I will never again do more
than allude to them; only they are enough to make Philosophy go hang
herself, and Patience swear like a Turk or a trooper.
Well, we left this most detestable and inhospitable shore as soon as
possible, but the enemy followed us, and we did not soon get rid of
them; night came on, and we were still twenty miles below the Sault.