WE STRIKE INLAND 
fort. This manifested itself in the presence of a 
leech, a little creature about #-inch long, with a 
slender body, very much smaller than the European 
variety, but inflicting the same sort of three-cornered 
bite. The native carriers offer the easiest victims, 
for the leeches fasten upon their bare heels in great 
numbers, and they had constantly to stop and brush 
them off with little switches which they carried in 
their hands. Sometimes, when the leeches had bitten 
very deep, the carriers had to lay down their loads 
and pull them off with their fingers. They would 
endure them until they became too bad, say, when 
a dozen or so had adhered to each foot. At this 
time we did not suffer much, but later on, in the 
journey from Faula to Mafulu, they got over the tops 
of our boots and socks and attacked our ankles. The 
bite was not actually painful, and the presence of 
our enemy was not revealed until we realised that 
our feet were wet with blood. The chief haunts of 
the leech are wet stones and moss and low herbage. 
Another discomfort which we experienced at this 
point of our journey was the abominable attack of 
the scrub-itch, a nasty little parasite that the way- 
farer brushes from the low herbage as he moves 
along. This hateful microscopic creature, which is 
of a bright red colour, gets under the skin and causes 
terrible irritation. The affection spreads, and if one 
is sO unwise as to scratch the place, there is no 
hope of relief for at least three weeks. The only 
satisfactory remedy is to bathe the part in warm 
salt and water. Scrub-itch, leeches, and mos- 
quitoes at times render life in the forest anything 
93 
