-* Buffaloes and Crocodiles 



these tiresome vermin with the greatest equanimity, or 

 else did not bother about them at all. But it was quite 

 another matter with Orgeich and myself. My own efforts 

 to rid myself of them only made things worse. Horrible 

 inflammation was the result. I immediately flew to 

 sublimate baths in my indiarubber tub ; but without 

 result. The only means of getting rid of these pests 

 was to undress completely and to allow the natives to 

 make a thorough search lasting half an hour. 



Visitors to the Zoological Gardens will be familiar 

 with the sight of the monkeys rendering one another 

 mutual assistance in this respect, and they will form 

 some idea of the scene which was daily enacted with 

 regard to myself, when a haul of from 50 to 100 tiny 

 almost invisible insects was taken from me ! These little 

 bloodsuckers managed to produce rather serious swellings 

 in the region of my stomach. .So small were the tiny 

 fiends that I at first ascribed the evil to other causes. 

 For the following weeks and months I had troublesome 

 sores, which refused to yield to remedies, and did not heal 

 until I reached the highlands some time later. Painful 

 days and sleepless nights my colleague Orgeich suffered 

 just as much as I marked our stay upon this island, 

 which I had called Heck Island in honour of my friend 

 Dr. Ludwig Heck, whose life-work it has been to secure 

 the preservation of big game. The little island was 

 an ideal natural preserve for buffaloes and waterbuck, 

 and kept them out of the range of the rinderpest then 

 ravaging the Dark Continent. 



There was no getting at the buffaloes. Whenever 

 VOL. i. 289 19 



