376 A HUNTER'S WANDERINGS ch. 



that can break through them ; indeed the Mashunas 

 assured us that they would hold anything running, 

 with the exception of the elephant and rhinoceros. 



On the evening of October i, my driver Jantje 

 came to our camp from the waggons at the Umbila 

 river, bringing rather alarming news, for he informed 

 us that upon the day of his arrival there, the cattle- 

 herd had caught three tsetse flies in the kraal, and 

 that he himself had seen " fly " not a mile from the 

 waggons. Being a Hottentot blessed with more 

 "nous" than the generality of his tribe, whose rule 

 is always to let things slide, he had at once inspanned 

 the waggons and trekked over to the Umsengaisi 

 river, and then came on to our camp to tell us what 

 he had done. Of course we thought that all our 

 oxen and the two horses we had left at the waggons 

 were " fly-stuck," and cursed our luck accordingly ; 

 but we were eventually very agreeably disappointed, 

 for we did not lose a single ox, though two of mine 

 and one of Wood's showed evident signs of having 

 been bitten, becoming very thin, and running at the 

 eyes. They were all young animals, however, and 

 at last pulled through, though one of mine did not 

 commence to make flesh again for more than a year. 

 These facts convinced me that it takes more than 

 one fly-bite to kill an ox or any other animal, and 

 that recovery from tsetse bite is possible when the 

 blood has not been too strongly impregnated with 

 the poison. Jantje had shot a fine old elephant bull, 

 whose tusks weighed 56 lbs. and 57 lbs. apiece, and 

 two cows, besides two hippopotami which he came 

 across in the Umniati river. 



The following day, October 2, my horse being 

 again very lame, I left my friends, and walked over 

 to the waggons at Umsengaisi, with the intention of 



