SECOND EXPEDITION TO SOUTH AFRICA 113 



by a rope attached to a catch, the other end of the rope being 

 brought down, fixed about a foot from the ground, across the path, 

 and tied to one of the trees opposite. As the animal presses 

 against the rope the catch is freed, and down conies the spike. 

 The northerners, who live on the shores of the lakes, Kamadou 

 particularly, kill them from canoes with spears like harpoons, 

 which, once firmly fixed, serve to show by their shafts the 

 direction taken by the wounded beast, and enable the men to 

 follow him and repeat the attack until, utterly weakened from 

 loss of blood, he is secured by ropes and drawn ashore. This 

 plan, which seems to me to have its drawbacks and dangers, 

 is not attempted on the rivers, and I was never an eye witness 

 of it, even on the lakes ; but I have two or three of the 

 harpoon assegais, and this was the story of the hunting as 

 told to Livingstone. 



On the low Siloquana hills near this we made our acquaint- 

 ance with the Tsetse fly, which we were the first to bring to 

 notice ; Vardon taking or sending to England some he caught 

 on his favourite horse. They have now been thoroughly 

 discussed entomologically, and I would only very lightly 

 touch upon them. The Glossina morsitans is a dusky grey, long- 

 winged, vicious-looking fly, barred on the back with striae, and 

 about the size of the fly you so often see on dogs in summer. 

 Small as he is, two to three will kill your largest ox, or your 

 strongest horse for the poison introduced by the proboscis 

 is zymotic ; the victims sicken in a few days, the sub-lingual 

 glands and muscles thicken, the eyes weep, a defluxion runs 

 from the nostrils, the coat stares, and in periods varying 

 from a fortnight to three months death ensues. On examina- 

 tion after death the blood is found to have diminished won- 

 derfully in quantity, to have become gelatinous in appear- 

 ance, and to have parted with its colouring property. You 

 may plunge your hands into it and it runs off like tapioca, without 

 staining them. The vital organs, lungs and heart, are flaccid 

 and anaemic, but show no further sign of disease. The flesh 

 has a peculiar glairy appearance. Wild animals are not 



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