THE TSETSE FEY. 69 



had left us previously in the lurch, we all liked Shobo, 

 a fine specimen of that wonderful people, the Bushmen. 



Next day we came to a village of Banajoa, a tribe which 

 extends far to the eastward. They were living on the 

 borders of a marsh in which the Mababe terminates. 

 They had lost their crop of corn (holcus sorghum), and now 

 subsisted almost entirely on the root called " tsitla," a kind 

 of aroidoea, which contains a very large quantity of sweet- 

 tasted starch. When dried, pounded into meal, and 

 allowed to ferment, it forms a not unpleasant article of 

 food. The women shave all the hair off their heads, and 

 seem darker than the Bechuanas. Their huts were built 

 on poles, and a fire is made beneath by night, in order 

 that the smoke may drive away the mosquitoes, which 

 abound on the Mababe and Tamunak'le more than in any 

 other part of the country. The head man of this village, 

 Ma jane, seemed a little wanting in ability ; but had had 

 wit enough to promote a younger member of the family 

 to the office. This person, the most like the ugly negro 

 of the tobacconists' shops I ever saw, was called Morda 

 Ma jane, or son of Ma jane, and proved an active guide 

 across the river Sonta, and to the banks of the Chobe, 

 in the country of Sebituane. We had come through 

 another tsetse district by night, and at once passed our 

 cattle over to the northern bank to preserve them from 

 its ravages. 



A few remarks on the tsetse, or Glossina morsitans, 

 may here be appropriate. It is not much larger than the 

 common house-fly, and is nearly of the same brown colour 

 as the common honey-bee ; the after part of the body 

 has three or four yellow bars across it ; the wings project 

 beyond this part considerably, and it is remarkably alert, 

 avoiding most dexterously all attempts to capture it with 

 the hand, at common temperatures ; in the cool of the 

 mornings and evenings it is less agile. Its peculiar buzz 

 when once heard can never be forgotten by the traveller 

 whose means of locomotion are domestic animals ; for it 

 is well known that the bite of this poisonous insect is 

 certain death to the ox, horse, and dog. In this journey, 

 though we were not aware of any great number having at 

 any time lighted on our cattle, we lost forty-three fine 

 oxen by its bite. We watched 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 



