170 BAINES ON rKOPIiYLACTICS AND KEMEDIES. 



the Limpopo. If a belt of fly cannot be avoided, it may 

 be passed through, if not too wide, in the night, or on a 

 cold i-ainy morning ; but the last is a dangerous experi- 

 ment, for should the sun break through the clouds it 

 rouses the insects with increased vigour and activity from 

 their torpor ; and it is well known that on a hot day all 

 poisonous creatures are more virulent and deadly." 

 « * * « « 



"I am not aware that any certain remedy is known. 

 The native doctors inoculate oxen by giving them the fly 

 itself, mixed with herbs. The poor beast suffers dread- 

 fully, and is brought almost to the point of death, but 

 when it recovers is believed to be Tsetse proof. 



"All young animals, while living on milk, are safe. 

 Some of the tribes living on the borders drive the cah^es 

 into the fly during the day, and bring them out to be 

 suckled morning and night. This is supposed also to 

 render them secure during the rest of their lives. 



" It would be a great boon if any composition capable 

 of being sprinkled or syringed over the animals — innocuous 

 to them and disgusting to the fly — could be discovered ; 

 tar, ox dung mixed with milk, the kidneys of the meer 

 kat, etc., have been recommended, but carbolic acid would 

 perhaps be more eff'ectual, diluted with water, and applied 

 by syringe or the rose of a watering-pot. 



" Mr. Hartley tried a decoction of the bark of the 

 roots of the wittegaat boom, or motlopre, I believe, with 

 some success ; and there are Boers who profess to be able 

 to cure an animal recently stuck. Their fee is one good 

 ox for saving a horse. 



"While passing through the fly, in 1871, I mixed 

 about a pound of ammonia with a bucket of warm water, 

 and washed all four of our horses. We noticed that they 

 flinched, probably as the liquid entered the punctures. 

 None of them died ; and though I would not afiirm on one 

 experiment that the ammonia saved them, I think it 

 highly probable such was the case.* Unfortunately, I 

 had not enough to wash the oxen with. We tried to 



* " June 27, 1874. I hear that during last season a hunter, on entering 

 the fly country, dosed or washed his horses continually with ammonia, 

 and has brought them all out safe, but very weak, probably from the 

 combined effects of the poison and its antidote." 



