LIVINGSTONE'S " MISSIONAEY TRAVELS." 129 



the Griquaa, a party of Englishmen, amongst whom was 

 my friend, Mr. Frederick Green, attempted to reach 

 Libebe ; but they had only proceeded seven or eight days' 

 journey to the north of the Ngami, when both horses and 

 cattle were bitten by the fly in question, and the parry 

 were in consequence compelled to make a hasty retreat. 

 One of the number, I am told, was thus deprived of as 

 many as thirty-six horses, excellent hunters, and all 

 sustained heavy losses in cattle " (pp. 489-490). 



" When allowed to settle on the hand of a man, all it is 

 observed to do is to insert its proboscis a little farther than 

 seems necessary to draw blood. It then partially with- 

 draws the dart, which assumes a ci-imson hue. The 

 mandibles now appear to be agitated ; the shrunken body 

 swells, and, in a few seconds, the insect becomes quite 

 full, and quietly abandons its prey" (p. 490, note). 



" A dog, reared on the meat of game, may be hunted 

 in Tsetse districts in safety " (p. 491, note 2). 



2L 1857. David Livingstone. 



" Missionary Travels and Researches in South 

 Africa " (London : John Murray), pp. 79, 80-83, 487- 

 488,571. 



" The cattle, in rushing along to the water in the 

 Mababe, probably crossed a small patch of trees contain- 

 ing Tsetse, an insect which was shortly to become a 

 perfect pest to us " (p. 79). 



" A few remarks on the Tsetse, or Glossina morsitans, 

 may here be appropriate. It is not much larger than the 

 common house-fly, and is nearly of the same brown colour 

 as the common honey-bee. The after part of the body has 

 three or four yellow bars across it ; the wings project beyond 

 this part considerably, and it is remarkably alert, avoiding 

 most dextrously all attempts to capture it with the hand 

 at common temperatures ; in the cool of the mornings and 

 evenings it is less agile. Its peculiar buzz, when once 

 heard, can never be forgotten by the traveller whose 

 means of locomotion are domestic animals ; for it is well 

 known that the bite of this poisonous insect is certain 

 death to the ox, horse and dog. In this journey, though 

 we v/ere not aware of any great number having at any 

 time lighted on our cattle, we lost forty-three oxen by its 



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