"I should rather see a stream, an alligator, and a puma."
"You are most unreasonable. I should be contented with the stream."
"Don't you find that the mosquitoes in the Terre-Chaude bite much sharper than those in the Terre-Tempérée?" asked the boy, addressing l'Encuerado.
"No, Chanito; they are all alike, for they belong to the same family, as your papa says."
"Then they must be more numerous here, for every instant one receives a fresh pinch."
"You must not complain yet, Chanito; you'll see what it will be when we reach the stream."
"How will it be then?"
"We shall not be able to open our mouths without swallowing some of these blood-suckers. But, Chanito, do you know what these mosquitoes are?"
"Yes, papa told me yesterday that they were diptera, and relations of the gadflys. Their proboscis is a kind of sheath inclosing six lancets, by the help of which they pierce our skin and suck our blood."
"But where do these hungry wretches come from?"