THE REDISCOVERED COUNTRY 75 



we heard a movement in a small patch of brush next a 

 spring. Suspecting buffalo I ran around the other side 

 just in time to meet a sleek black rhino that came out 

 about twenty yards away. 



Everything was lovely and happy, but we were 

 destined to a setback. Two hours out we met Suli- 

 mani in full regaha, musket, bandolier, and all, ac- 

 companied by a Wasonzi guide. He had started out 

 to hunt us up, if it took a week, and was deHghted that 

 his errand was cut so short. 



He reported that two of the donkeys had died, "and 

 all the rest are sick." 



This was a facer. Much perturbed, we hurried on. 

 Arrived at the base camp we found one donkey dead, 

 two on the point of expiring, and five more of ours and 

 six of Vanderweyer's evidently out of sorts. Both mules 

 had symptoms of fly.* 



We called in from pasture all survivors, packed 

 them, and hastily dispatched them off across the hills 

 to N'digadigu, the next Wasonzi village, hoping thus 

 to get them out of the fly belt. Then I put bullets 

 through the brains of the two. 



In the afternoon Cuninghame and I paid a visit to 

 the village on the hill. There was a long, well-made 



* To determine if a beast is fly struck, take a fold of its neck skin between 

 your thumb and finger. If it smooths out immediately on being released, 

 the beast is all right. If, however, it stands out in a ridge, without elas- 

 ticity, and only slowly subsides, your animal is a goner. He may last six 

 days or six months, but eventiially he is doomed. He will die next time 

 he gets wet or chilled. 



