Hlg 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1805. 



" tory, and to the account of liis " the black earth, and hasten do\tn 

 " powers, wc must confess the very " to the sands of Atbara, and there 

 " great injustice we do him from " they remain while the rains last, 



*' want of consideration. We are 



'' obliged, with the greatest sur- 



" prise, to acknowledge that those 



*' huge animals the elephant, the 



" rhinoceros, the lion, and the ti- 



" gcr, inhabiting the same woods, 



" are still vastly his inferiors, and " of the desert. Though his size is 



" that the appearance of this small " immense, as is his strength, and his 



" insect, nay, his very sound, 



" this cruel enemy never daring to 



" pursue them farther. 



" What enables the shepherd td 



" perform the long and toilsome 

 journies across Africa is tlie ca- 

 mel emphatically called the ikip 



a 



" though he is not seen, occasions 

 " more trepidation, movement and 

 " disorder, both in the human and 

 " brute creation, than would whole 

 " herds of these monstrous auimals 



" body covered with a thick skin, 

 " defended Afith strong hair, yet 

 " still he is not capable to sustain 

 " the violent punctures the fly 

 " makes with his proboscis. lis 

 " must lose no time in removing to 



"collected together, though their ^' the sands of Atbara; lor when 



" number was in a ten. fold propor- "once attacked by this lly, his 



'^^ tion greater than it really is. " body, head, and legs, break out 



" This insect is called dmb ; it " into huge bosses, which swell, 



" has not been described by any na- " break, and putrify, to the certain 



*' turalist. It is in size very little " destruction of the creature. Even 



" larger than a bee, and his wings, " the elephant and rhinoceros, who, 



" which are broader than those of a 



*' bee, placed sepai'ate like those of 



'• a fly : they are of pure gauze, 



" without colour or spot upon 



*' them ; the head is large, the up- 



" per jaw, or lip, is sharp, and has 



" at the end of it a strong pointed 



" hair, of about a quarter of an 



" inch long; the lower jaw has 



" two of these pointed hairs, and 



•' this pencil of hairs, when joined 



" together, makes a resistance to 



*' the finger nearly ecjual to that of 



" a strong hog's bristle. Its legs 



'• arc seriated in the inside, and 



" the whole covered %vith brown 



•' hair or down. As soon as this 



*' plague appears, and their buzzing 



«' is heard, all the cattle forsake " of the Red Sea, are obliged to put 



*' their food, and run wildly about " themselves in motion, and re- 



" the plain, till they diej worn out " move to the next sand in the be- 



*' with fatigue, fright, and hunger. " ginning of the rainy season, to 



•• No remedy rewains for the resi- " prevent all their stock of cattle 



" dents oil sueh spots, but to leave " fr«m being destroyed. This is 



" not 



" by reason of their enormous 

 " bulk, and the vast quantity of 

 " food and water they daily noed, 

 " cannot ^hift to desert and dry 

 " places as the season may require, 

 " are obliged to roll themselves in 

 " mud and mire, which, when dry, 

 '• coats them over like armour, and 

 '' enables them to stand their 

 " ground against this winged as. 

 " sassin ; jet, I hare found some 

 " of these tubercles upon alu>ost 

 every elephant and rhinoceros 



u 



" tjiat I have seen, and I attribute 

 " them to this cause. ' 



" All the inhabitants of the sea- 

 " coast of IMehnda, down to Cape 

 " Gardefan, to Saba, and the south 



