58 IN AFRICA 



rent and weakening. There are all kinds of ticks, 

 from little red ones no bigger than a grain of pep- 

 per to big fat ones the size of a finger-nail, that are 

 exactly the color of the ground. They seem to 

 have immortal life, for they can exist for a long 

 time without food. Doctor Ward told us of some 

 that he had put in a box, where they lived four years 

 without food or water. He also told us of one that 

 was sent to the British museum, put on a card with 

 a pin through it, and lived over two years in this 

 condition. It is assumed, however, that it sustained 

 fatal injuries, because after a two years' fight 

 against its wound it finally succumbed. 



We were told to avoid old camping grounds 

 while on safari,, because these spots were usually 

 much infested with ticks waiting for new camping 

 parties. Wild game is always covered with ticks 

 and carries them all over the land. As you walk 

 through the grass in the game country the ticks 

 cling to your clothes and immediately seek for an 

 opening where they may establish closer relations 

 with you. Some animals, like the rhino and the 

 eland, have tick birds that sit upon their backs and 

 eat the ticks. The egrets police the eland and cap- 

 ture all predatory ticks, while the rhino usually has 

 half a dozen little tick birds sitting upon him. 



However, we were starting out in a day or so, and 

 in a few days expected to learn a lot more about 

 ticks than we then knew. 



It is supposed to require a certain amount of 

 nerve to go lion shooting. It is also supposed to 



