er to avoid the plague of flies, under which this country seems to
suffer, adds to the unpleasant expression of their countenance, and quite
justifies the correctness of Dampier's account: "Their eyelids are always
half-closed, to keep the flies out of their eyes, they being so
troublesome here, that no fanning will keep them from coming to one's
face; and without the assistance of both hands to keep them off, they
will creep into one's nostrils, and mouth too, if the lips are not shut
very close; so that from their infancy, being thus annoyed with these
insects, they do never open their eyes as do other people, and therefore
they cannot see far unless they hold up their heads, as if they were
looking at somewhat over them." We found constant occasion, when on
shore, to complain of this fly nuisance; and when combined with their
allies, the mosquitoes, no human endurance could, with any patience,
submit to the trial. The flies are at you all day, crawling into your
eyes, up your nostrils, and down your throat, with the most irresistible
perseverance; and no sooner do they, from sheer exhaustion, or the loss
of daylight, give up the attack, than they are relieved by the musquitos,
who completely exhaust the patience which their predecessors have so
severely tried. It may seem absurd to my readers to dwell upon such a
subject; but those, who, like myself, have been half-blinded, and to
boot, almost stung to death, will not wonder, that even at this distance
of time and place, I recur with disgust to the recollection.

The natives, in all parts of the continent alike, seem to possess very
primitive notions upon the subject of habitation; their most comfortable
wigwams hardly deserve the name: not even in the neighbourhood of English
settlements are they beginning in any degree to imitate our European
notions of comfort. Among these northern people, the only approach to
anything like protection from the skiey influences that I could discover,
was a slight rudely thatched covering, placed on four upright poles,
between three and four feet high.

Another, of a much superior description, which I visited on the western
shore of King's Sound, will be found delineated in that part of my
journal to which the narrative belongs.

WIND AND WEATHER.

February 10.

We remained at this anchorage until the 10th of February, in consequence
of a continuance of bad weather; indeed, the rain during the three first
days of that month was