season that all the small creeks were dried up, so that I could
nowhere procure a drop of water to moisten my parched lips. The
sensations occasioned by thirst are so much more painful than those we
feel from hunger, that although I had eaten but little the preceding
day, and nothing on that day, I never thought of food. While my inner
man was thus tortured by thirst, my outer man scarcely suffered less
from another cause. The country through which I passed being of a
marshy nature, I was incessantly tormented by the venomous flies that
abound in such situations,--my shirt, and only other habiliment,
having sustained so much damage in my nocturnal expedition, that the
insects had free access _partout_.[1]


[1] There are three different kinds of these tormenting
insects, viz. the mosquito, the black-fly, and the gnat--the
latter the same as the midge in N. Britain--who relieve each
other regularly in the work of torture. The mosquitoes
continue at their post from dawn to eight or nine o'clock,
A.M.; the black-flies succeed, and remain in the field till
near sunset; the mosquitoes again mount guard till dark, and
are finally succeeded by the gnats, who continue their watch
and incessant attacks till near sunrise.

I came to the foot of a high hill about two o'clock P.M., which I
ascended, and got a very good view of the surrounding country from its
summit; hills and lakes appeared in every direction; but the sight
of these objects only served to impress my mind with the conviction,
that, unless Providence should direct my steps to the establishment,
the game was up with me. Having descended, I sauntered about the
remainder of the day, my ideas becoming more and more bewildered,