INDIAN ELEPHANTS IMMUNE TO DISEASE. 189 



of forest where every tree was hung, festooned, smothered, 

 shrouded, enlaced, draped with convolvulus ; tree was 

 liTiked to tree in the most extraordinary manner, and the 

 ground was carpeted with the plants. We here saw 

 Tsetse again" (p. 278). 



Tsefse-fli/ at Ricmuma. — " At Rumuma I again saw 

 Tsetse-fly, an observation which M. Broyon's experience 

 confirms, he having lost some oxen through the fly after 

 bringing them safely all the way to Mpwapwa " (p. 283). 



On arrival at Mpwapwa, Aug. 3, 1879, the elephants 

 did not appear to he suffering from Tsetse-fly disease after 

 twenty-three days' exposure to the fly. — "At Mpwapwa our 

 fir.st task was to draw up the ' Report ' for the King of 

 the Belgians, of which, unfortunately, I have no copy ; 

 but I remember it contained the words : ' The elephant 

 experiment has now been proved a complete success.' 

 An assertion which Carter justified on the three counts of 

 (1) Their immunity against Tsetse after twenty-three 

 days' exposure to that insect ; (2) their maintenance 

 during one month mostly upon the uncultivated food of 

 the country, and therefore at little cost ; (3) their ability 

 to march over all styles of ground, soft, stony, sandy, 

 boggy ; to conquer all eccentricities of topography — hill 

 and dale, river and jungle — while labouring under double 

 their due weight of baggage, some 1,500 instead of 700 lbs. ; 

 and this in a style that no other beast of burden could 

 hope to emulate. At this distance of time, and notwith- 

 standing the subsequent death of three elephants and the 

 discontinuance of the experiment, I see no reason to 

 withdraw a word of Carter's claim to success " (pp. 

 285-286). 



" I have not the shadow of a doubt that there is yet a 

 great future in Africa for the elephant, especially when 

 the stage of capturing and taming the native species has 

 been reached" (p. 288). 



" Our troubles came in a cluster at and after Mpwa- 

 pwa.* There one of the donkeys died, on August 30th. 

 On stepping forth from my tent one morning, I saw the 



* [Two elephants died at Mpwapwa, In the opinion of Mr. Rankin 

 their deaths were due, at least in part, to overloading, excessive work, and 

 iusuflicient and unsuitable food : the result in no way vitiated the success 

 of the experiment as regards the ability of the Indian elephant to with- 

 stand Tsetse-tly disease.] 



