"It seems that, in the river districts of Alaska, when the ice breaks up and melts in the spring, the hunting of game over the soggy ground and through the melting snow is impossible, while the ice-cakes in the flooded rivers effectually prohibit any fishing. At about this time, the stock of food laid in for the winter by the Indians has run low, and matters would sometimes be rather serious for the tribes did not the mosquitoes fly to the rescue. At this season these insects appear in countless hordes, clouds upon close, all ravenous for their first spring meal. Falling upon the deer and even the bears, they so torment the poor animals that they rush to the rivers to rid themselves of the blood-thirsty energy; thus falling an easy prey to the watching Indians. At times the eyes of the bears, which are by far the easiest points of attack for the mosquitoes, are so swollen that bruin can no longer see, and thus starves or is captured by some hungry hunter, four-footed or otherwise."