Uava(jes of the Tsetse-Jli/. 253 



carries is so powerful that the bite of three or four individuals 

 is sufficient to kill the most powerful ox. Many animals, 

 especially such as appear perfectly sound or in the best 

 condition, die speedily after being bitten, but the majority are 

 ill for an entire week, and usually become blind before death. 

 One remarkable circumstance is that the bite of these insects 

 is fatal to dogs, even when fed with milk, while calves and 

 other young animals, so long as they are sucking, remain 

 perfectly exempt from the malefic powers of the tsetse. It is 

 especially noticed that the danger seems to be confined to 

 domesticated animals, while such as are wild or only half re- 

 claimed, such as buffaloes, zebras, jackals, oxen, horses, and 

 wild dogs, have not the slightest occasion to dread this insect ; 

 nay more, it attacks man himself without the least ill con- 

 sequences. The sensation which their bite produces on the 

 the hand, or other portion of the human frame, would be 

 confounded by any one travelling in the tsetse district, with 

 that of another minute and most troublesome, though by no 

 means dangerous insect, the flea. Fortunately the tsetse-fly 

 has an appointed circuit to range in, in the south-west of the 

 Cape Colony, which it never changes or extends. The land- 

 owner may erect his cattle-pound on one side of the stream 

 in perfect security, although the opposite bank may resound 

 with the hum of swarms of these insects. When the 

 natives, who are acquainted wdth the localities in which the 

 tsetse-fly abides, are compelled, as they constantly are, to shift 

 their ground, and, in changing their pastures, to transgress 



