Show THE ORIGIN OF MUSQUITOES The Indians have a very aatefac tory account of the origin of the Montezuma musquitoes The legend ruts thus There were in times of old many moons ago two huge feathered monsters permitted by the Manitou to descend from the sky and alight on the banks of the Sene a river Their form was exactly that of the mUEquito They were so large that they darkened the sun like a cloud as they flew toward the rarth Standing one on either bank they guarded the river and stretching their long necks into the canoes of the Indians as they attempted to paddle along the stream gobbled them up aa the stork king in the fable gobbled un the frogs The destruction des-truction of life was EO great that not an Indian could Pass without being devoured in the attempt It was long before the monsters could be xter terminated and then only by the combined efforts of all the warriors of the Cayuga and Onondaga nations The battle was terrible but the warriors warri-ors finally triumphed and the mammoth mam-moth mnaquitoea were slain and left unhurried For this neglect the Indiana In-diana had to pay dearly The oar causes decomposed and the particles vivified by the sun flew off in clouds of muequitoes which have filled the country ever since William JF Tay lor in The Manhattan |