ALLEGED IMMUNITY OF GOATS. 233 



hastily isolated from further molestation, by a wash com- 

 posed of ingredients only known to himself. 



" The * fly ' poison is injected into an animal in the 

 same manner as the mosquito bites, and leaves a small 

 diffuse lump on the bitten spot, causing much local 

 irritation, especially as the fly attacks the least exposed 

 parts of the animal, where the skin is thin, and it cannot 

 be driven away by the tail. The bite is much aggravated 

 by contact with water, and it is a well-known fact that 

 the early rains carry off" all fly-bitten cattle. The bitten 

 animal shows signs of great lassitude, its head swells, 

 and the joints and limbs become stifi". At this stage a 

 merciful bullet is advisable to forestall a death of general 

 debility and asphyxia. On cutting the beast open, one 

 ftnds the subcutaneous tissue injected with a yellow serous 

 fluid not unlike the result of some snake bites, and also 

 the lungs injected. Beyond this I have not been able to 

 investigate, as these episodes usually occur on a march 

 when neither time nor opportunity is oflered for scientific 

 observation. 



" The goats we had with us showed no signs of being 

 afiected by fly-bite, and I feel safe in the assertion that 

 they are impervious to this poison. To mankind and all 

 wild beasts the bite is innocuous, although surprisingly 

 unpleasant in its sting, equal in quality to that of a good 

 healthy wasp or bee. To illustrate the violence of the 

 bite, let me relate that on one occasion I had already 

 sighted the rifle at a buffalo standing looking at me some 

 thirty yards otf", and was just in the act of pulling the 

 trigger, when a Tsetse-fly settled on my hand, and the 

 sting was so acute that I had not the nerve to pull 

 the trigger, but had first to brush the fly ofi", and by the 

 movement scared the buffalo away. 



"The fly on the Pungwe River is, I think, slightly 

 smaller and darker in hue than those on the Upper 

 Zambesi or Chobe rivers" (pp. 67-68). 



Oft the Chobe, August, 1884. — Death of a donkey from 

 "fly-bite": "the other two were almost unable to walk 

 from stiffness brought about by the same cause" (p. 163). 



" Jumbo the big donkey showed severe symptoms of 

 fly-bite on the 13th August. In the morning he was 

 quite stiff" and unable to rise, but after being set on his 



