1 8 THE SPORTSMAN IN SOUTH AFRICA. 



preserve horses from this scourge in the province of Griqualand 

 West, but now it is only on rare occasions that its presence becomes 

 known there. 



The disease generally starts its ravages soon after the fall of the 

 first summer rains, assuming its most deadly form during the months 

 of February, March, and April, gradually disappearing about the 

 middle of May. The symptoms are unmistakeable. The hollows 

 over the eyes of the afflicted animal swell up ; a filthy viscid mucus 

 exudes from the nostrils; the respiration becomes hurried and jerky; 

 and death usually occurs within three days. Horses that have once 

 recovered are known as "salted," and though they may, and very 

 often do, again show symptoms of the sickness, death rarely results 

 therefrom. It can readily be imagined, therefore, that a sahed 

 horse is highly regarded and prized by the hunter in the Interior, 

 and why it often fetches ten times the amount originally paid for 

 it. Although every other Boer met with in South Africa credibly 

 asserts that he can by its appearance at once detect whether a horse 

 or mule has ever contracted the disease, these statements should 

 never for a moment be acted upon, as there is really no visible 

 method by which such evidence can be ascertained. As a word of 

 warning, and before going to the extra expense of buying a salted 

 horse (as much as from £s° to ^1°° being demanded for the 

 same), strict enquiries should first be made respecting not alone 

 the character of the seller, but independent testimony obtained 

 in corroboration of the fact of the intended purchase having at one 

 time been afflicted; and although a written guarantee to this effect 

 is always given at the sale, it very often happens that a deliberate 

 fraud has been committed, not more than three out of every ten 

 horses so guaranteed being salted. Redress by legal process in this, 

 as in everything else, generally proves more expensive in the end 

 than the original loss incurred. The Marico district of the Trans- 

 vaal has the best reputation for turning out salted horses. The 

 mule is just as liable to contract the sickness, but it is noteworthy 

 that donkeys are generally impervious to it. 



It is no exaggeration to say that the ponies bred in the mountains 

 of Basutoland are not excelled anywhere in the world for shooting 

 purposes. Although rarely attaining fourteen and a half hands, 

 they are not only possessed of wonderful endurance, but are also 

 capable of thriving in places and under conditions in which other 

 breeds of horses would almost starve. Perhaps they do not equal 



