THE ORIGIN OF MOSQUITOES.

Thames Star, Volume IX, Issue 3034, 5 November 1878, Page 2

THE ORIGIN OF MOSQUITOES.

The Eed River Indians hare a carious legend respecting the origin of mosquitoes They say that once upon a time there was a famine and the Indians could get no game. Hundreds had died from hunger, and desolation filled the country. All kinds of offerings were made to the Great Spirit without arail, until one day two hunters came upon a white wolverine, a very rare animal. Upon shooting the white wolverine, an old woman sprang out of the skin, and saying that she was a " Manito," promised to go and lire will the Indians, promising them plenty of game as long as they treated her well and gave her the first choice of all the game that was brought in. The two Indians assented to this and took the old woman home with them, which event was immediately succeeded by an abundance of game. When the sharpness of the famine had passed in the prosperity which the old woman had brought the tribe, the Indians became dainty in their appetites, and complained of the manner in which the old woman took to herself the choice bits; and this feeling became so intense that notwithstanding her warning that if they violated their promise a terrible calamity would come upon the Indians, they one day killed her as she was seizing her share of a reindeer which the hunter had brought in. Great consternation immediately struck the witnesses of the deed, and the Indians, to escape the predicted calamity, bodily struck their tents and moved to a great distance. Time ' passed on without any catastrophe occurring, and game becoming plentiful eren more plentiful, the Indians began to laugh at their being deceived by the old woman. Finally, a hunting party on a long chase of a reindeer, which had led them back to the place where the old woman had been killed, came upon her skeleton, and one of them ia derision, kicked the skull with his foot. In an instant a small, spiral, vapor-like body arose from the eyes and ears of the body, which proved to be insects, that attacked the hunters with great fury, and drove them to the river for protection. The skull continued to pour out its little stream, and the air became full of avengers of the old woman's death. The hunters on returning to camp, found the Indians suffering terribly from the plague, and ever since that time the Indians hare been punished by the mosquitoes for their wickedness to their preserver, the Manito. i