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On returning to the Bakurutse, we found that their canoes for fishing were simply large bundles of reeds tied together. Such a canoe would be a ready extemporaneous pontoon for crossing any river that had reedy banks. Leave Kolobeng again for the Country of Sebituane Reach the Zouga The Tsetse A Party of Englishmen Death of Mr.
The tsetse flies, which were very numerous at the bottom, came up the ascent with us, but as we increased our altitude by another thousand feet they gradually dropped off and left us: only one remained in the evening, and he seemed out of spirits. Near sunset we encamped by water on the cool height, and made our shelters with boughs of leafy trees; mine was rendered perfect by Dr.
In all the other continents, also, explorers have had the advantage of domestic animals to carry their food and camp equipment; but in large parts of tropical Africa the horse, ox, and mule cannot live. The bite of the little tsetse fly kills them. Its sting is hardly so annoying as that of the mosquito, but near the base of its proboscis is a little bag containing the fatal poison.
The merchants contributed specimens of all their articles of trade, and a couple of donkeys, which would have a special value on account of their immunity from the bite of the tsetse. The men were made happy by the acquisition of a suit of European clothes and a gun apiece, in addition to their own purchases. In the Bashinje country he again encountered hostile demonstrations.
Cattle could not live on the banks of the Rovuma on account of the tsetse, which are found from near the mouth, up as far as we could take the boats. The navigation did not improve as we ascended; snags, brought down by the floods, were common, and left in the channel on the sudden subsidence of the water.
Some of them are the Oestridæ; and one kind known in Africa as Tsetse, is so fierce and venomous, that a few of them are sufficient to sting a horse to death: they are the same as the Zimb, of which Bruce gives such a striking account. Their presence appears to be mainly determined by the nature of the soil, for they are seldom found away from the black earth peculiar to the Valley of the Nile.
Tarantula, with wicked bright eyes of shining berries, brought up the rear, with the bee, and the mole-cricket, and, with bulgy brown, white-striped body and long wings importantly crossed behind its back, a tsetse of appallingly gigantic size....
There was a chorus of profane surprise in half a dozen tongues; for this was the end of March, the climax of the rainy summer, when the land was full of rotting vegetation and mephitic vapors, of mosquitoes and tsetse flies, malaria and fever. "Is he coming out, then?" said one. "Where is he this time, by the way?" "All the same," another remarked, "I'll wager that he isn't aware of this.
A thirsting for sweet wells of which one has heard in a dream. Does one ever taste those waters? Are they sweet or bitter? Perhaps this is the secret that to taste them is death." The safari marched on. She rode the Muscat donkey, which was dying from the bites of tsetse flies. Next morning she marched afoot in the blaze of the sun.
* Unfortunately, these illustrations can not be presented in this ASCII text. Fortunately, information on the Tsetse is no longer difficult to find. The "somewhat smaller than life" drawing is about 1 cm from head to tail, not including wings or proboscis.
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