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The “tsetze,” a small fly, not much larger than the common 
house-fly of this country, was not met till the tropics were passed, and 
was most destructive to the whole domesticated animal life. Two of 
them would destroy the largest ox. Its Zadcétat was the bush, spread- 
ing only a few yards beyond it, and if cattle strayed into the bush 
the whole would be speedily destroyed ; that was, the cow, the ox, the 
horse, dog, or sheep; but the donkey and buffalo it left unhurt. In 
fact, clinging to the haunches of the buffalo, it was spread only by 
that means, and would never be eradicated till the whole buffalo tribe 
was destroyed. He and poor Livingstone had been bitten all over 
with it, yet they never experienced any great ill effects. 
% But,” said a visitor, facetiously, “ perhaps you were not domes- 
ticated then?” to which he, amidst laughter, replied, “ That 
occurred in my wild days.” As he had remarked, he had seen two of 
them kill an ox. It was not by a sting, he believed ; and he did not 
think it was by depositing an egg ; but the poison, or whatever it was, 
was communicated by the proboscis. Within a week after it was 
bitten the muscles and glands of the poor beast’s throat would swell; 
the hollows over the eye fill up ; the whole frame of the animal would 
become similarly affected, and in three weeks it would be dead, unless 
rain set in,—then it would be dead in ten days. He lost 24 oxen 
simply through the bite of the “ tsetze.” 
“Ts there no antidote to its bite?” was a questionasked. ‘‘ None 
that is known ;” “but there is one thing which I should mention 
as a still more curious fact. A calf when it is sucking may 
be bitten by the tsetze all day long; but a weaned calf, when 
bitten, is dead in a week. But, as throughout the whole of 
nature, this fly has its enemies, being attacked by the ichneumon 
whilst on the wing, who sucks them dry and drops their empty shells 
in abundance.” 
In illustrating the ingenuity of the natives, he mentioned that 
Livingstone and himself had reached the bank of a very deep river, 
one of the feeders of the Zambesi, and were wondering how they 
should get their bullocks across, when, suddenly, a man appeared on_ 
the opposite side,—one who had never seen a white man before. 
Having induced him to come across in his boat, they consulted with 
him as to how the cattle could be got over. He went back, returning 
with a cow and a calf,—the cow in that part of the country being no 
larger than a Newfoundland dog,—and, landing the cow, took the calf 
, 
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