58 THE GREAT THIRST LAND. 



If, with a valuable saulted horse, you kill six or 

 eight good elephants in a season, and you should lose 

 ultimately your nag by tsetse, or beast of prey, his 

 price has been doubly, probably trebly paid. I have 

 heard persons state that saulted horses were impervious 

 to injury from fly -bite ; this is an error, and a very mis- 

 leading one. 



I have been at the death of many horses that died 

 of horse -sickness. The symptoms in each case were the 

 same : a dull, lustreless eye, with great puffiness over 

 the pupil ; a staring coat, extreme restlessness, lying 

 down one moment and getting up the next ; a marked 

 desire to be in the society of its master, at all events, 

 close to the wagons; griping, coughing, and ultimately 

 death ; and in the last struggle the very last, I may 

 say an immense quantity of a white frothy substance 

 comes from either nostril, covering the ground in front 

 of the mouth for the distance of one and sometimes 

 two feet. The pain the poor creatures suffer while ill 

 with this epidemic is fearful, and their groans can be 

 heard for several hundred yards, if the atmosphere be 

 still. I do not profess to a knowledge of anatomy, but 

 in all carcases that I have opened, the entire liver, lungs, 

 and heart denoted acute inflammation, while the last 

 organ was soft and flabby. 



Many, and myself among the number, cannot help 

 thinking that this disease is caused by some vegetable 

 matter, not procurable at other seasons of the year. 

 Mr. Thomson, of the Backwan, concurred with me, 

 while Mr. Mackenzie and Mr. Hepburn thought differ- 

 ently. Innoculation has been recommended, but, I fear, 

 not sufficiently adopted. Mr. Hobson, a very large and 

 successful breeder in the Eastern Province of the colony, 



