470 A PROBLEM SYMPTOMS. 



only fatal to domestic animals, as wild animals feed undis- 

 turbed in parts infested by the insect. Yet many of them, 

 such as oxen and buffaloes, horses and zebras, dogs and jack- 

 als, &c., possess somewhat the same nature. Moreover, it 

 bites man, and no danger follows. The sensation experi- 

 enced has not inaptly been likened to the sting of a flea.* 

 The problem to be solved is, what quality exists in domesti- 

 cation which renders domestic animals obnoxious to this poi- 

 son? "Is man not as much a domestic animal as a dog? 

 Is it the tsetse at all which kills the animal ?" 



Captain Vardon, of the Indian army, one of the earlier pi- 

 oneers of the more interior parts of Southern Africa, was 

 among the first to decide the point ; for he rode his horse up 

 a hill infested by tsetse, and in twenty days his doubts were 

 removed by the death of his horse. 



According to the statement of the celebrated explorers, 

 Messrs. Oswell and Livingstone, who were severe sufferers by 

 the tsetse, the following symptoms are observed in the ox 

 when bitten : the eye runs, the glands under the throat swell, 

 the coat loses its gloss, there is a peculiar flaccidity of the 

 muscles generally, and emaciation commences, which pro- 

 ceeds unchecked until — perhaps months after the bite — purg- 

 ing supervenes, and the animal perishes of exhaustion. Some 

 die soon after the bite is inflicted, especially if they are in 

 good condition, or should rain fall ; but, in general, the pro- 

 cess of emaciation goes on for many weeks. In some cases 

 the animals become blind before they die.f 



* When allowed to settle on the hand of man, all it is observed to 

 do is to insert its proboscis a little farther than seems necessary to 

 draw blood. It then partially withdraws the dart, which assmnes a 

 crimson hue. The mandibles now appear to be agitated ; the shrunk- 

 en body swells ; and, in a few seconds, the insect becomes quite full, 

 and quietly abandons its prey. 



f " One of my steeds," says Gordon Gumming, "died of the tsetse. 

 The head and body of the poor animal swelled up in a most distress- 

 ing manner before he died ; his eyes were so swollen that he could 



