THE NCHOUNA. "181 
not so large as the iboco, is far more sly, and is also 
found in greater numbers. If the iboco were as numer- 
ous as the nchouna, the people would surely not be able 
to live in the regions of the Ovenga. The nchouna is 
somewhat of the shape of our common flies, but of at 
least twice the size; it is of a yellowish color, and per- 
haps more elongated, resembling very much the ¢setche of 
Southern Africa, of which species it may be a variety. 
As one is seated, he sees several nchounas flying in a 
quiet way round about him. ‘They are very sly, and the 
least movement one makes sends them off. As they fly 
around one they do not appear as if intent upon an at- 
tack, but before you know it the fly has come, and in such 
a gentle way that you do not notice it at all, for they in- 
sert their bill very gently into your body. They will 
stay until they have sucked your blood and filled them- 
selves with it, and generally I never knew of their attack 
till I felt the itch which follows the bite when the fly has 
gone. Then this is followed by a little painful swelling. 
The itching begins, and lasts often for several hours, espe- 
cially if the fly has been disturbed before its full allow- 
ance has been taken. In the height of the rainy season 
~ in the country of the Ovenga no day passed without my 
being bitten several times by the nchouna. 
The negroes usually have a little broom, made of the 
stem of the leaves of certain trees, to keep off this insect; 
often the tail of an elephant is used for the same purpose. 
The third species, [remember well, is called zbolaz. It 
is an insect twice as large as our common house-fly. The 
wingscross eachother. This fly is black, more elongated 
than the nchouna, and quicker on the wing; its sting is 
long, and strong enough to pierce the thickest clothes one 
