164 SOUTH AFRICA. 



farming is simply a waste of time, money, and 

 comfort, if the results of the business are calculated 

 on the average profits of periods extending over, 

 say, ten years, although at unfrequent intervals 

 a slice of luck may turn up. Owing to the 

 magnificent distances between villages and farms, 

 the services of horses or mules are indispensable 

 to all residents in this country, more especially to 

 farmers. As the ravages of the fatal " horse- 

 sickness " are annual causes of the loss of at least 

 half of this description of stock throughout the 

 whole territory, the item of deficit caused by this 

 inevitable scourge seriously affects the prosperity 

 of the country. About ninety-five per cent of 

 the animals attacked by this fell disease die, and 

 the survivors, however defective in desirable 

 qualities, being then considered acclimatised, 

 become high-priced mokes of decreased spirits. 

 Horses and mules exposed to the summer climate 

 of the low bush veldt generally die off en masse 

 during that and the autumn seasons. On high 

 elevations the sickness is also fatal, but not to 

 such a ruinous extent. Stabling seems to diminish 

 the liability to disease to some extent, but in that 

 case exposure to night air and dew, hardly to be 



