58 
IN AFRICA 
rent and weakening. There are all kinds of ticks, 
from little red ones no bigger than a grain of pep¬ 
per to big fat ones the size of a finger-nail, that are 
exactly the color of the ground. They seem to 
have immortal life, for they can exist for a long 
time without food. Doctor Ward told us of some 
that he had put in a box, where they lived four years 
without food or water. He also told us of one that 
was sent to the British museum, put on a card with 
a pin through it, and lived over two years in this 
condition. It is assumed, however, that it sustained 
fatal injuries, because after a two years’ fight 
against its wound it finally succumbed. 
We were told to avoid old camping grounds 
while on safari, because these spots were usually 
much infested with ticks waiting for new camping 
parties. Wild game is always covered with ticks 
and carries them all over the land. As you walk 
through the grass in the game country the ticks 
cling to your clothes and immediately seek for an 
opening where they may establish closer relations 
with you. Some animals, like the rhino and the 
eland, have tick birds that sit upon their backs and 
eat the ticks. The egrets police the eland and cap¬ 
ture all predatory ticks, while the rhino usually has 
half a dozen little tick birds sitting upon him. 
However, we were starting out in a day or so, and 
in a few days expected to learn a lot more about 
ticks than we then knew. 
It is supposed to require a certain amount of 
nerve to go lion shooting. It is also supposed to 
