# What did Native Americans use to repel mosquitos on the Texas coast?



## RRbohemian (Dec 20, 2009)

I was down on Matagorda Peninsula for a few days and the mosquitos are horrible. While I was going through cans of mosquito spray I kept thinking what did the Native Americans and first settlers of the Texas coast use for repellent. The breeze in the morning helped as long as I didn't step in the sunflowers (hunting dove). Good thing for my lab because I couldn't take but a few minutes stepping into the sunflowers to get a down dove. When my lab came back with a bird he was covered, I mean covered in mosquitos. After the wind laid it really didn't matter where I stood, if I didn't have bug spray I was attacked! Does anyone know what Natvie Americans and the first settlers used to fight back the mosquitos?


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## Top-H2O 2110 (Jan 31, 2010)

I have wondered the same thing. They must have been tough. I have heard different things, one of which was marsh mud.


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## Bobby (May 21, 2004)

Buffalo fat rubbed all over there bodys?:biggrin:


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## Top-H2O 2110 (Jan 31, 2010)

Also have heard alligator grease or fat.


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## Tortuga (May 21, 2004)

*"*

*Insect Repellents and Insecticides*

Goldenseal. The Cherokee pounded the large rootstock with bear fat and smeared it on their bodies as an insect repellent"

(can't believe I'm so bored I took time to look this up..)


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## StinkBait (May 31, 2004)

Not sure how true it is but they taught us in school that that used gator innerds/blood, boiled maybe? We lernt that when we were taught about the Karankawas down in south Texas.


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## goin' skinny (Aug 10, 2006)

buffalo dung :biggrin:


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## speckle-catcher (May 20, 2004)

Tortuga:

are you really that bored?

or is that what you did when you were a kid?

:slimer:


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## Tortuga (May 21, 2004)

speckle-catcher said:


> Tortuga:
> 
> are you really that bored?
> 
> ...


*"ALL THE WORLD LOVES A SMART ARSE".. Old *****' saying....*

:biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:


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## CrabBait (May 28, 2005)

I was taught that the Karankawa Indians of the gulf coast used shark oil which also made them smell very rank. I assume they boiled the carcasses and created a body oil. Kind'a had a dual purpose, no one wanted to get near them.

CB


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## speckle-catcher (May 20, 2004)

Tortuga said:


> *"ALL THE WORLD LOVES A SMART ARSE".. Old *****' saying....*
> 
> :biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:


Bobby probably taught you the recipe.


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## Bobby (May 21, 2004)

speckle-catcher said:


> Bobby probably taught you the recipe.


I did not!! You at home or at the beach today?


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## CrabBait (May 28, 2005)

Guess, I'm pretty bored too...

Here you have it...

http://books.google.com/books?id=rL...nepage&q=karankawa mosquito repellent&f=false

CB


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## speckle-catcher (May 20, 2004)

Bobby said:


> I did not!! You at home or at the beach today?


I'm at home. Headed to the Ft Bend County Fair in an hour or so.

probably be at the beach next weekend.


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## Bobby (May 21, 2004)

speckle-catcher said:


> I'm at home. Headed to the Ft Bend County Fair in an hour or so.
> 
> probably be at the beach next weekend.


Ok I needed your back not your brain. Had some stuff I need to move and its too heavy for Barbara to help me.


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## Lone-Star (Dec 19, 2009)

Most of the coastal indians did not live along the coast year round. Most of them traveled to the coast during the fall/winter to harvest shellfish and spent the summers inland. Obviously there are exceptions but the marsh areas were essentially uninhabited during the mosquito months. 

Also remember that during the ice age and mini-ace ages the coastal areas would have been more hospitable with less/no mosquitos.


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## iridered2003 (Dec 12, 2005)

CrabBait said:


> I was taught that the Karankawa Indians of the gulf coast used shark oil which also made them smell very rank. I assume they boiled the carcasses and created a body oil. Kind'a had a dual purpose, no one wanted to get near them.
> 
> CB


i partied with these guys one weekend and they STUNK!:cheers:


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## smooth move (Dec 10, 2007)

*karankawa*



CrabBait said:


> I was taught that the Karankawa Indians of the gulf coast used shark oil which also made them smell very rank. I assume they boiled the carcasses and created a body oil. Kind'a had a dual purpose, no one wanted to get near them.
> 
> CB


X2 they're an interesting read.


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## roundman (May 21, 2004)

the peyote smoke kept them both stoned , skeeter to stoned to bite, indian too stoned to swat


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## Super Dave (May 26, 2004)

Back in the days of the settlers mosquitos were not much of a problem. It wasn't until the population explosion inland and more blood available for free that the mosquitos started coming across the border in waves to avail themselves of the free meals.


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## donf (Aug 8, 2005)

It is my understanding they used a potion called Obamadung. 
It was a 50/50 mixture of bullish$t and smoke blown thru a donkeys arse. 
I was guaranteed to eliminate Mosquitos, your income, and any hope for a comfortable retirement. 
Remember November


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## roundman (May 21, 2004)

donf said:


> It is my understanding they used a potion called Obamadung.
> It was a 50/50 mixture of bullish$t and smoke blown thru a donkeys arse.
> I was guaranteed to eliminate Mosquitos, your income, and any hope for a comfortable retirement.
> Remember November


 lmao/ green fer dat 1


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## Won Hunglo (Apr 24, 2007)

Keep in mind, there were no showers in a tee pee. If you were a mosquito, whold you bite the person that lived there that NEVER showered a day in their life?


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## Zork (Jan 11, 2006)

donf said:


> It is my understanding they used a potion called Obamadung.
> It was a 50/50 mixture of bullish$t and smoke blown thru a donkeys arse.
> I was guaranteed to eliminate Mosquitos, your income, and any hope for a comfortable retirement.
> Remember November


ROFLMFAO!


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## tbone2374 (Feb 27, 2010)

Body odor?


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## Hooked Up (May 23, 2004)

Simple. They used a picture of Nancy Pelosi's Great Great Great Grandmother.


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## fishnstringer (Oct 20, 2006)

*Gotta love a man with a sense of humor like that!*

Green to you!


donf said:


> It is my understanding they used a potion called Obamadung.
> It was a 50/50 mixture of bullish$t and smoke blown thru a donkeys arse.
> I was guaranteed to eliminate Mosquitos, your income, and any hope for a comfortable retirement.
> Remember November


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