JUMBO ILL OF FLY-BITE 
167 
shooting from the gate of the skerm. Some natives, who 
witnessed the shot from a distance, bolted in amazement when 
the buck fell, and he sent out to have the meat brought in. 
Jumbo the big donkey showed severe symptoms of fly- 
bite on the 13th August. In the morning he was quite stiff and 
unable to rise, but after being set on his feet, struggled about 
until the stiffness went off a little and he was able to get about 
and graze. In the evening he was able to walk a little. A 
diffuse swelling extended from between the hind legs, reaching 
along the belly up to the forelegs. Otherwise there appeared to 
be no distress in breathing, or any increased temperature j udged 
by feeling the ears. In the evening, Matambanja arrived with 
his followers. He said he was tired from his journey, so after a 
short palaver, he went to rest in a skerm his followers made 
close to ours. They gave us some fat from a bull eland that 
they had killed on the way to visit us. 
The 14th of August was a very disheartening and dis¬ 
appointing day for us. Matambanja complained bitterly of the 
smallness of the presents we gave to him, a great chief who was 
ruler on the Chobe. And the more we gave the more he seemed 
to increase his capacity for receiving and demanding additional 
presents; till at last not wishing to quite impoverish ourselves, 
we were obliged to be firm in our denials to hand over any¬ 
thing more. I am sure the rascal had never seen so many 
white men’s goods together in one place as we presented him 
freely with, hoping to gain his favour. But no, as long as any¬ 
thing remained to us, he expressed a desire to have it, and 
seemed to be of opinion that he was ill-treated unless he got it. 
The rapacity of this chief was actually boundless. After he had, 
got all we would give spontaneously, he started telling his men 
to help themselves, and one seized an iron dish lying by the 
fire. But we started up in assumed anger and made such a 
fuss that they found this would not pay, at least not now; so 
Matambanja then tried by promising to give us bearers—who 
should help us all the way to Debabe’s on the Okavango—to get 
a further douceur. He would send to-morrow for the men to 
