CH. XVI.] DIPTEROUS INSECTS. 241 



houses, the wainscoting and other woodwork swarm- 

 ing with them. 



There is yet another insect whose formidable 

 powers of annoyance exceed even any of those 

 hitherto detailed we allude to the Zimb or Tsalt- 

 saya of Bruce. Its size is very little larger than a 

 bee, and its wings, which are broader than those 

 of a bee, are placed separately like those of a fly. 

 As soon as this plague appears, and their buzzing 

 is heard, all the cattle forsake their food, and run 

 wildly about the plain till they die, worn out with 

 fatigue, fright, and hunger. No remedy remains 

 for the inhabitants on such spots but to leave the 

 black earth, and hasten down to the sands of Albara, 

 where they remain while the rains last, the cruel 

 enemy never daring to pursue them farther. All 

 the inhabitants of the seacoast of Melinda, down to 

 Cape Gardafui, to Saba, and the south of the Red 

 Sea, are accordingly annually obliged, at the begin- 

 ning of the rainy season, to remove to the next sand 

 to prevent all their stock of cattle from being de- 

 stroyed. What though the Ship of the Desert, as 

 the camel is emphatically called, be immense in 

 size and strength, and his body covered with a thick 

 skin defended with a strong hair; the little Zimb 

 pursues him with relentless fury, and he is not ca- 

 pable of sustaining the violent punctures which this 

 fly makes with its proboscis. His body, head, and 

 legs break out into large bosses, which swell, break, 

 and putrefy, to the certain destruction of the crea- 

 ture. Even the elephant and rhinoceros, which, 

 from their enormous bulk, and the vast quantity of 

 food and water which they daily require, cannot shift 

 to desert places as the season demands, are com- 

 pelled to roll themselves in mud and mire, which, 

 when dry, coats them all over like armour, and ena- 

 bles them to stand their ground against their winged 

 foe ; and yet Mr. Bruce found some of the tubercles 



VOL. II. X 



