130 LIVINGSTONE'S THKOEY OF TSETSE-DISEASE. 



bite. We v-atched the animals carefully, and believe 

 that not a score of flies were ever upon them. 



" A most remarkable feature in the bite of the Tsetse 

 is its perfect harmlessness in man and wild animals, and 

 even calves, so long as they continue to suck the cows. We 

 never experienced the slightest injury from them ourselves, 

 personally, although we lived two months in their habitat, 

 which was in this case as sharply defined as in many 

 others, for the south bank of the Chobe was infested by 

 them, and the northern bank, where our cattle were placed, 

 only fifty yards distant, contained not a single specimen. 

 This was the more remarkable, as we often saw natives 

 carrying over raw meat to the opposite bank with many 

 Tsetse settJv-d upon it" (pp. 80-81). 



Notes on the bite and its effects on cattle (pp. 81- 

 82). 



" These symptoms r^oem to indicate what is probably 

 the case, a poi.son in the blood, the germ of which enters 

 when the proboscis is inserted to draw blood. The poison- 

 germ, contained in a bulb at the root of the proboscis, 

 seems capable, although very minute in quantity, of 

 reproducing itself, for the blood after death by Tsetse is 

 very small in quantity, and scarcely stains the hands in 

 dissection " (p. 82). Animals that suffer from the bite, 

 or possess immunity (p. 82). " The mule, ass, and goat 

 enjoy the same immunity from the Tsetse as man and the 

 game." 



" The curious feature in the case, that dogs perish 

 though fed on milk, whereas the calves escape so long as 

 they continue sucking, made us imagine that the mischief 

 might be prodixced by some plant in the locality, and not 

 by the Tsetse ; but Major Vardon, of the Madras Army, 

 settled that point by riding a horse up to a small hill 

 infested by the insect without allov.'ing him time to graze, 

 and though he only remained long enough to take a view 

 of the country and catch some specimens of Tsetse on the 

 animal, in ten days afterwards the horse was dead.' 



" The well-known disgust which the Tsetse shows to 

 animal excreta, as exhibited when a village is placed in its 

 habitat, has been observed and turned to account by some 

 of the doctors. They mix the droppings of animals, 

 human milk, and some medicines together, and smear the 



