TRAVELLING UNDER DIFFICULTIES 



to the coast of West Africa, whence they spread to the 

 Central African lakes. They will, no doubt, soon be 

 met by the contingent which ever since 1896 is working 

 its way into the interior from the East African coast. 

 They are not only a nuisance, but a positive danger to 

 man and animal. 



This small flea selects the toes or fingers for its attack ; 

 it bores its way into the flesh, growing there as big as a 

 small pea, and if not removed in time may cause the 

 loss of the member. The "fundiya funza," the sand- 

 flea doctors, make a specialty of removing the parasites 

 patiently and almost painlessly by means of small 

 sticks of wood. One may often see in the infected dis- 

 tricts natives walking about minus one or more toes. 

 The flea attacks, likewise, monkeys, dogs, and other 

 animals. The young rhinoceros which I succeeded in 

 raising and shipping to the Berlin zoological gardens 

 had almost daily to be cleaned of these fleas. I have 

 often been forced to change my camping-place to avoid 

 them. They managed to attack me, too, when I once 

 lay ill for some days with malarial fever. One of 

 my black boys removed as many as seven from my 

 toes. 



During certain times of the year flies prove a source 

 of annoyance, though they are not quite so bad in East 

 Africa as in Somaliland. In fact, only one kind is a 

 nuisance to man and a danger to certain animals — 

 namely, the often-mentioned, tsetse-fly. I found this 



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