C H A P T E R X X V
MOSQUITOES
~]\ J A U B IN , if you descend upon it from Upper
l y J L Burma in the dust-choked days of early April,
will smile upon you with its air of perpetual summer;
and you will wonder at its clarity and freshness, and its
undying verdure. But Maubin, like most of the Delta
in which it has sprung into being, conceals much that
is disagreeable under its smiling ■ exterior. From its
immense riches nothing Can detract ; but it lacks one
or two of the constituents of civilised happiness. It has
been ironically named the Garden of Eden, after the
governor who founded it, and in tribute to some of its
less invitingf characteristics.
Perhaps its greatest claim to the notice, and the
execration of mankind resides in its populace of
mosquitoes. These, in number, size, and virulent
activity, are unsurpassed in the world. One’s first visit
to Maubin in the mosquito season is an experience,
and to see them under the flare of an electric searchlight,
come over the ship’s side in hordes, and occupy
like an irresistible army every fraction of its surface ;
to see them hanging in festoons from the white canvas
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