X "TSETSE" FLIES BY NIGHT 189 



stranger than fiction, it is said, and certainly this 

 anecdote of mine is very strange, and yet absolutely 

 true in every detail. 



Little more remains to be said. I at once took 

 the spoor, and followed it till the sun went down, 

 and, could I but have got water, would have followed 

 it for ten days more. When I relinquished the 

 pursuit, we were many miles from the river, and 

 (not having carried water) suffering from a thirst 

 such as those only can appreciate who have walked 

 during a long day in deep sand, under a blazing 

 tropical sun. 



The forest being pretty open, and the moon 

 about full, we got along well enough, and at last, 

 about midnight, we struck the river at a point at 

 least twelve miles from our camp, which we did not 

 reach much before daylight. I think it is usually 

 believed tsetse fly will not bite at night ; but along 

 the Chobe river (where they swarm), and by moon- 

 light, I can feelingly say that this is a mistake. 

 They kept flying up from the ground on to my 

 naked legs, and bit as furiously as in the daytime ; 

 and, judging from the deep curses and loud slaps 

 behind me, I had no doubt they were paying similar 

 attentions to my Kafirs. 



My first care on reaching camp was to boil a pot 

 of tea and roast a few slices of elephant's heart, after 

 discussing which I wrapped myself in my kaross and 

 slept till late the next day. In the afternoon, 

 getting tired of sitting still, I again packed up my 

 traps, and at sundown camped some ten or twelve 

 miles farther up the river. 



On Thursday morning I had just shot a fine 

 impala ram, which my Kafirs were in the act of 

 skinning, when two canoes hove in sight, paddhng 



