On the low lands they swarm in myriads.

The females alone are furnished with the biting apparatus, and their number appears to be out of all proportion in excess of the males.

At anchor, on a still evening, they were excessively annoying; and the sooner we took refuge under our mosquito curtains, the better.
The miserable and sleepless night that only one mosquito inside the curtain can cause, is so well known, and has been so often described, that it is needless to describe it here.

One soon learns, from experience, that to beat out the curtains thoroughly before entering them, so that not one of these pests can possibly be harboured within, is the only safeguard against such severe trials to one's tranquillity and temper.
A few miles above Mboma we came again to the village (16 degrees 44 minutes 30 seconds S.) of the chief Tingane, the beat of whose war-drums can speedily muster some hundreds of armed men.

The bows and poisoned arrows here are of superior workmanship to those below.