HORSE-SICKNESS. 9 1 



It is more especially dangerous over the pit of the stomach. 

 The effects of the poison have been experienced by mis- 

 sionaries who had eaten properly cooked food, the flesh of 

 sheep really but not visibly affected by the disease. The 

 virus in the flesh of the animal is destroyed neither by 

 boiling nor roasting. This fact, of which we have had 

 innumerable examples, shows the superiority of experi- 

 ments on a large scale to those of acute and able physio- 

 logists and chemists in the laboratory, for a well-known 

 physician of Paris, after careful investigation, considered 

 that the virus in such cases was completely neutralized by 

 boiling. 



This disease attacks wild animals too. During our resi- 

 dence at Chonuane great numbers of tolos, or koodoos, 

 were attracted to the gardens of the Bakwains, abandoned 

 at the usual period of harvest because there was no pro- 

 spect of the corn (Holcus sorghum) bearing that year. The 

 koodoo is remarkably fond of the green stalks of this kind 

 of millet. Free feeding produced that state of fatness 

 favourable for the development of the disease, and no 

 fewer than twenty-five died on the hill opposite our house. 

 Great numbers of gnus and zebras perished from the same 

 cause, but the mortality produced no sensible diminution 

 in the numbers of the game, any more than the deaths of 

 many of the Bakwains who persisted, in spite of every 

 remonstrance, in eating the dead meat, caused any sensible 

 decrease in the strength of the tribe. 



The farms of the Boers consist generally of a small patch 

 of cultivated land in the midst of some miles of pasturage. 

 They are thus less an agricultural than a pastoral people. 

 Kach farm must have its fountain ; and where no such 

 supply of water exists, the government lands are unsale- 

 able. An acre in Kngland is thus generally more valuable 

 than a square mile in Africa. But the country is pros- 

 perous and capable of great improvement. The industry 

 of the Boers augurs well for the future formation of dams 

 and tanks, and for the greater fruitfulness that would 

 certainly follow. 



As cattle and sheep farmers the colonists are very suc- 

 cessful. Larger and larger quantities of wool are produced 

 annually, and the value of colonial farms increases year by 

 year. But the system requires that with the increase of 

 the population there should be an extension of territory. 

 Wide as the country is, and thinly inhabited, the farmers 



