Mosquito Coast

“ Nicaragua, though liable to predatory forays, had not wealth enough to tempt the buccaneers from richer prey. Cape Gracias a Dios, on its north-eastern boundary, was a rendezvous of the freebooters; but the Atlantic coast was even less inviting to the plunder-seekers than the Pacific. The narratives of the buccaneers touch lightly on it. Its name of the Mosquito Coast appears to have been well deserved. ”

“ Few English folks realize the torture of mosquito-invaded nights on the Riviera. As to mosquito curtains, they afford a remedy ofttimes worse than the disease, keeping out what little air is to be had and admitting, here and there, one mosquito of slenderer bulk and more indomitable temper than the rest. After two or three utterly sleepless nights the most enthusiastic traveller will sigh for grey English skies, pattering drops and undisturbed sleep. At sea, you may escape both blinding glare and mosquito bites. A boat is also the only means of realizing the beauty of the coast. ”

“ The Mosquitos proper are ruled by a hereditary king, who claims sovereignty over the interior tribes of the Mosquito Coast, which, in many cases, is merely nominal. Before the English made their influence felt, this monarch, who, in these latter degenerate days, does not possess many prerogatives, seems to have had but a small extent of territory, for among the earlier travelers some assert that the inhabitants of this coast lived under a republican rule, while others observed no form of government. ”

“ The sea-breeze sweeps over its high banks, rustling through the trees with a sound that is suggestive of coolness and shade without touching the surface of the still water below; and the mosquito is the only creature that feels thoroughly happy in that muggy heat. ”

“ There is a passage in Southey's Omniana (vol. i. p. 21.) giving an account of a curious custom among the Mozcas, a tribe of New Granada: his authority is Hist. del Nuevo Reyno de Granada, l. i. c. 4. These are some way south of the other Moscos, but it is probably the same word.
One of the Virgin Islands in the West Indies has the name of Mosquito.
Some "Mosquito Kays" are laid down on the chart off Cape Gracias à Dios, on the Mosquito coast; but these probably would have been named from the Mosquito Indians of the continent. ”

“ Indian River, Halifax River, Mosquito Lagoon, and half a dozen rivers, sounds, lagoons, lakes, and inlets on the Atlantic coast of Florida, are different names for the same shallow body of water, separated from the main ocean by a narrow strip of sand, which extends north and south for two hundred miles. Indian River extends from about twenty-five miles north of Titusville to the inlet, a distance of one hundred miles. But Banana River and Mosquito Inlet are separated from it only by Merritt's Island, so that these bodies of water overlap each other. ”

“ The atmosphere was soft and mild, the evening was perfect. The great sheet of water extended far to the east. On the south it was bounded by marshes. A long, low prairie coast stretched away on the north; it was the southern end of the state of Mississippi. The light-houses flashed their bright beacon-lights over the water. All was tranquil save the ever- pervading, persistent mosquito. Thousands of these insects, of the largest size and of the most pertinacious character, came out of the high grass and "made night hideous." ”

“ There was a large assemblage on the beach, when we landed, but I was amazed to find that, with few exceptions, they were all unmitigated negros, or Sambos (i. e. mixed negro and Indian) . I had heard of the Mosquito shore as occupied by the Mosquito Indians, but soon found that there were [59] few, if any, pure Indians on the entire coast. The miserable people who go by that name are, in reality, Sambos, having a considerable intermixture of trader blood from Jamaica, with which island the coast has its principal relations. ”

“ We made acquaintance on this coast with a new insect pest, the Piúm, a minute fly, two-thirds of a line in length, which here commences its reign, and continues henceforward as a terrible scourge along the upper river, or Solimoens, to the end of the navigation on the Amazons. It comes forth only by day, relieving the mosquito at sunrise with the greatest punctuality, and occurs only near the muddy shores of the stream, not one ever being found in the shade of the forest. In places where it is abundant it accompanies canoes in such dense swarms as to resemble thin clouds of smoke. ”

“ And although the few scattered inhabitants [180] of the Mosquito Shore, above the Prinza-pulka, live upon the borders of the lagoons, selecting generally the savannahs for their villages, it is because they are essentially fishers, and derive their principal support from the sea. The islands of the coast abound with turtle, and the rivers, creeks, and lagoons teem with fish of nearly every variety known under the tropics. ”

“ They trade with, and are frequently in the habit of crossing to Jamaica. The Spaniards are said to have no settlements on the Mosquito Shore; which name has been given to this country, partly from the Indians, and from a bank and cluster of islands which lie near it, in 14° 30ʹ north latitude, and 82° 10ʹ west longitude.
The Mosquito Indians were formerly a very powerful and numerous race of people; but the ravages of rum and the small-pox have diminished their numbers very much. They inhabit, however, nearly the whole coast of Honduras ”

“ Famous centres are the Island of Ascension, the West Indies, and the coast of Mosquito, at least for commercial purposes. As they require sandy, easily accessible beaches for the deposition of their eggs, they congregate in certain parts of the world more than in others, and being strictly vegetable feeders, they are naturally bound to the coasts, although they are sometimes met with far out at sea. Their chief food consists of algae, and of Zostera marina, the edible "Dulce," which grows plentifully in the lagoons of the coast of Florida. ”

“ The present number of the Mosquito Indians is unknown. It happened among them, probably, as among the North American Indians, that they declined in numbers and degenerated in spirit in proportion nearly as the white people settled among them. The Mosquitos, like the Caribs of San Domingo, consist of three distinct races: the aborigines, the descendants of certain African negroes who were formerly wrecked on the coast, and a generation containing the blood of both. If the Spaniards earnestly desired to destroy them, they could not, I think, make a very vigorous resistance. ”

“ A. Gallatin, Synopsis of the Indian Tribes (Archæologia Americana, volume 2) , section 3. See below: SEMINOLES. AMERICAN ABORIGINES: Musquito, or Mosquito Indians. "That portion of Honduras known as the Musquito Coast derived its name, not from the abundance of those troublesome insects, but from a native tribe who at the discovery occupied the shore near Blewfield Lagoon. They are an intelligent people, short in stature, unusually dark in color, with finely cut features, and small straight noses--not at all negroid, except where there has been an admixture of blood. ”

“ All along the Greenland coast, wherever there is a pool of fresh water which thaws from the ice-grip, the larvæ of the mosquito appear in swarms in the spring, and, very shortly after, the full-fledged insect emerges in the utmost vigour of irritating stinging life. As the time is short between the period when the ice melts and when the water freezes again, the Greenland mosquito has to be active to work out his life mission before he is frozen off, and the skin of all visitors to his locality [Pg 86] gives ample evidence how well he utilises his opportunities. ”

“ I have been in several localities on Indian River and Mosquito Lagoon, on the south-east coast of Florida, where I would not like to have 1 been on the outside of my netting, under the little shelter-cabin of our sail-boat, but I have never seen more numerous and, in localities, more voracious mosquitoes than in our northern forests in Michigan. ”

“ The culex solicitans is the common gray mosquito which breeds so abundantly in the salt-water marshes of our Atlantic coast. The different species of mosquitoes differ widely as to their breeding-places, some species breeding in brackish water, some only in fresh water. Other species breed freely in dirty and muddy water, and still others can apparently live only in fresh, clean water. The two species with which we are most concerned as being disease-carrying mosquitoes are very particular as to their habits, always seeking fresh, clean, clear water in which their larvæ can develop. ”

“ The creek of the name is both narrow and shallow, and can only be used by small craft. There is most interesting yachting in the Halifax and Hillsborough, north and south of New Smyrna, which is situated on the Hillsborough, about three miles from Mosquito Inlet, as well as in Mosquito Lagoon, which is reached through a narrow and tortuous channel among innumerable islands from the Hillsborough. ”

“ Some ships of the convoy entered Freetown but we lay off and paused for a while a half mile from the coast; we believed that mosquitoes couldn’t make that distance but just to be on the safe side we tried out our mosquito-repellent ointment. The air was hot and very humid and soon we decided that we preferred mosquito bites to the discomfort of trapped perspiration. ”

“ My landlady was satisfied, and generous withal, for she not only paid me the ten pounds, and gave me my two weeks board and lodging in the bargain, but introduced me to a colored gentleman, a friend of hers, who sailed a little schooner twice a year to the Mosquito Shore, on the coast of Central America, where he traded off refuse rum and gaudy cottons for turtle-shells and sarsaparilla. There was a steamer from Kingston, once a month, to Carthagena, Chagres, San Juan, Belize, and “along [23] shore;” ”

“ We caught the land-breeze as soon as we got from under the lee of the shore, and drove rapidly on our course. Although the sea was comparatively smooth, yet the boats all carried such an amount of sail as to keep me in a state of constant nervousness. One would scarcely believe that the Mosquito men venture out in their pitpans, in the roughest weather with impunity, riding the waves like sea-gulls. If upset, they right their boats in a moment, and with their broad paddle-blades clear them of water in an incredibly short space of time. ”

“ I might think that I was looking into the swirlings of our trout-pool in the Balwearie Burn, but for the bright, jagged coral, and the strange sea-weeds at the bottom, and the still stranger fishes floating, as it were, in pure mid air, but a fathom down beneath the keel of the canoe. Gliding over these translucent waters, sometimes scraping the battered side of our skiff against the rough coral edges; sometimes receiving a sparkling shower of spray when a bigger wave than ordinary burst upon the outside reef, the Mosquito men were in their glory. ”

“ I believe it to be probably derived from an native name of a tribe of Indians in that part of America. The Spanish Central Americans speak of Moscos. Juarros, A Spanish Central American author, in his History of Guatemala, names the Moscos among other Indians inhabiting the north-eastern corner of that tract of country now called Mosquito: and in the "Mosquito Correspondence" laid before Parliament in 1848, the inhabitants of Mosquito are called Moscos in the Spanish state-papers.
How and when would Mosco have become Mosquito? Was it a Spanish elongation of the name, or an English corruption? ”

“ Presently a murmur arose among the watchers. Out at the harbor mouth, against the thin greenish-blue of the horizon, appeared the “Mosquito Fleet.” Driven by a steady breeze, the boats swept toward the city with astonishing rapidity.
Warm sunlight flooded out of the west, touched the old city with transient glory, then cascaded over the tossing surface of the bay to paint the taut, cupped sails salmon pink, as the fleet drove forward directly into the eye of the sun. ”

“ The seal of the Canal Zone shows a galleon under full sail passing between the towering banks of the Culebra Cut, with the motto, “The land divided; the world united”. Sometimes as I trudged about the streets of Colon or Panama, or over the hills and through the jungle in the Zone, I have thought a more significant coat-of-arms might be made up of a garbage can rampant and a gigantic mosquito mordant for verily by the collection and careful covering of filth and the slaughter of the pestilential mosquito all the work done on the Zone has been made possible. ”

“ We left Buenos Ayres on a boat drawing about ten feet of water, and rigged like an ocean steamer; we wondered what could be the use of the masts in river navigation, but found out before the voyage was over. Mosquitoes were thick and thirsty, but, like mosquitoes in other countries, they did not fly high in the air; when they were too numerous on deck for comfort, we climbed into the rigging and escaped their attentions. We advise all travellers who may follow us to provide themselves with mosquito nettings ”

“ You can find traces of the two men any place you go in the woods of Darien or Norwalk. In a ferned dell where you are quite sure that yours is the first human presence, you come upon a ditch, as clean and smooth as a knife—or you find new grass in a place which you remember as a swamp. Perhaps you may even be lucky enough to come on the two workers themselves, digging with their pick and spade—for all summer long the Mosquito Man is working eight hours a day at his self-appointed task. ”