THE PLAGUE OF ANTS. 



187 



it sets to work, twisting itself round and a accroupi " in 

 its eagerness for food, it may be pulled in two without 

 relaxing its hold. The favourite food of this pismire is 

 the termite : its mortal enemy is a large ginger-coloured 

 ant, called from its painful wound " maji m'oto," or " hot- 

 water." In this foul jungle our men also suffered se- 

 verely from the tzetze. This fly, the torment of Cape 

 travellers, was limited, by Dr. Livingstone, to the regions 

 south of the Zambezi river. A specimen, brought home 

 by me and submitted to Mr. Adam White, of the British 

 Museum, was pronounced by him to be a true Glossina 

 morsitans, and Mr. Petherick has fixed its limits about 

 eight degrees north of the equator. On the line followed 

 by the Expedition, the tzetze was found extending from 

 Usagara westward as far as the Central Lakes ; its usual 

 habitat is the jungle-strip which encloses each patch 

 of cultivated ground, and in the latter it is rarely 

 seen. It has more persistency of purpose even than the 

 Egyptian fly, and when beaten off it will return half a 

 dozen times to the charge ; it cannot be killed except by 

 a smart blow, and its long sharp proboscis draws blood 

 even through a canvas hammock, It is not feared by 

 the naked traveller ; the sting is as painful as that of an 

 English horsefly, and leaves a lasting trace, but this hard- 

 skinned people expect no evil consequences from it. In 

 the vicinity of Kilwa it was heard of under the name of 

 " kipanga," the " little sword." It is difficult to conceive 

 the purpose for which this plague was placed in a land 

 so eminently fitted for breeding cattle and for agricul- 

 ture, which without animals cannot be greatly extended, 

 except as an exercise for human ingenuity to remove. 

 Possibly at some future day, -when the country becomes 

 valuable, the tzetze may be exterminated by the in- 

 troduction of some insectivorous bird, which will 



