Joam Garral, occupied all the time in the work which gave him not a moment's rest, did not stir.

Yaquita, her daughter, and Manoel also remained on board.

The mosquitoes of Loreto have a deserved reputation for driving away such visitors as do not care to leave much of their blood with the redoubtable diptera.
Manoel had a few appropriate words to say about these insects, and they were not of a nature to encourage an inclination to brave their stings.
"They say that all the new species which infest the banks of the Amazon collect at the village of Loreto.

I believe it, but do not wish to confirm it.

There, Minha, you can take your choice between the gray mosquito, the hairy mosquito, the white-clawed mosquito, the dwarf mosquito, the trumpeter, the little fifer, the urtiquis, the harlequin, the big black, and the red of the woods; or rather they make take their choice of you for a little repast, and you will come back hardly recognizable! I fancy these bloodthirsty diptera guard the Brazilian frontier considerably better than the poverty-stricken soldiers we see on the bank." "But if everything is of use in nature," asked Minha, "what is the use of mosquitoes ?" "They minister to the happiness of entomologists," replied Manoel; "and I should be much embarrassed to find a better explanation." What Manoel had said of the Loreto mosquitoes was only too true.