78 TRAVELS IN 
was aceounted a wonder : what ftill ferves t6 
confirm the truth of my affertion is, that 
even at the Cape, in the rainy feafon, when 
the atmofphere is coolefl:, more milk is ob- 
tained ; and the contrary is the cafe when 
the warm weather returns. It is then alfo 
that the feafon moft dangerous for thefe ani- 
mals commences^ and when they are fubjeft 
to four deflruclive maladies, which occafioa 
dreadful devaftation amor^g the herds. 
The firft, called at the Cape lam-fiktey is 
a real palfy, which comes on all of a fuddenj 
and though fat, and to appearance in per- 
fe6l health, thefe animals are obliged to re- 
main in a lying pofture, and they generally 
die in fifteen days. As foon as the diftemper 
appears, thofe which are ftill free from the 
infedtion are fent out of the country; and, 
as there is no remedy for this plague, 
the planters deftroy thofe attacked by it ; 
and this they do with the more readinefs, 
as they have no averfion to eat the difeafed 
flefh : above all, they make no difficulty in 
giving it to their flaves and Hottentots, who 
in their tafte are ftill lefs delicate. 
Another difeafe, the tong-fiktey is a pro- 
digious fwelling of the tongue, whi^^h then 
fills 
