A Word of Warning. 183 



not for two fatal disadvantages — (1) the malarial 

 fever, which during the rainy season terribly 

 oppresses human heings ; (2) the sickness which at 

 all periods of the year kills from ninety to ninety- 

 five per cent, of liorses and mules brought into 

 the country. The opening u}) of the bush veldt, 

 the cultivation of the soil, and some amount of 

 drainage may overcome the former evil and cause 

 it to disappear, as has been the case in other parts 

 of South Africa : the same causes may diminish 

 the severity of the horse sickness. In the Cape 

 Colony, at Kimberley, and in some parts of the 

 Transvaal, horse sickness, which used to be rife, 

 has almost died out, and I sup^jose that it is not 

 impossible that science may discover some remedy 

 or some successful mode of treatment which may 

 mitigate the rigour of this malady. Till these 

 changes have extensively occurred I am of opinion 

 that agricultural enterprise in this otherwise 

 l^eautiful part of Africa, would be attended with 

 damage, disaster, and catastrophe. 



On the evening of the 2nd August, I met, at 

 our outspan, a Boer, by name A'^iandt, well known 

 to Lee. He had hunted the ostrich for many 

 successive seasons in Mashonaland, and was 

 acquainted with every hole and corner of the 

 country. He told me he knew j^laces to which 

 no white man of the present day had ever been, 

 where there was much gold and extensive old 

 mining workings. Lee guaranteed his honesty 

 and veracity, so I endeavoured to induce him to 

 accompany us. He was transport-i'iding, and re- 



