72 
SOLDIERING AND SPORT IN MASHONALAND. 
entirely free from it except in some little-known parts in the north-east 
and north-west. One or two curious facts about the fly are worth 
noting: its bites have no injurious effects upon human beings or wild 
animals; it never bites during the hours of darkness so that if an 
animal can be ridden through the fly country between sunset and sun¬ 
rise, in one night, it will escape unhurt; the animals do not, as a rule, 
die immediately after being bitten, but on the contrary, they frequently 
live for two or three months, and in this way donkeys are often taken 
several journeys, backwards and forwards, through the fly country 
before they finally succumb. A “ fly struck ” animal will often live, 
and appear to be perfectly well, until he gets a wetting, when the bites 
will swell up into lumps under his skin, and death ensues. So much 
for the roads leading to Mashonaland ; now a word as to those which 
have been made in the country itself. Of these there are two main 
ones, viz., one from Fort Tuli, in a north-easterly direction, to Fort 
Salisbury, and the other from Umtali, in a westerly direction to the 
same place. These are merely wagon-tracks, with passable fords, or 
te drifts,” as they are called in South Africa, through the numerous 
rivers and “ spruits ” (streams). The difficulties of marching in this 
country are such as-will be familiar to those who have read or had ex¬ 
perience of marching in Zululand or Bechuanaland, viz., heavy sand, 
steep slopes, flooded rivers, etc., all of which occur in different parts of 
the road, but none of which are insuperable obstacles. The heavy ox- 
wagon, es double spanned ” when necessary, travels slowly and labor¬ 
iously through the sand and up the hills, and, given the necessary 
materials and labour, the rivers can be crossed when they are in flood 
by means of rafts, or “ ponts ” as they are usually called. Many 
soldiers and travellers will remember the Tugela and White Umfolosi 
rivers in Zululand, which, though not nearly so large or so rapid as the 
worst of the Mashonaland rivers, may yet be taken as examples of 
what has to be encountered, though in a worse degree, in this new 
country. To those who have seen rivers in flood in Asia or Africa it 
is not necessary to describe the surprising rapidity with which, in a 
few hours, an apparently trivial stream will become a surging torrent 
utterly unfordable, and to swim across which is a feat requiring con¬ 
siderable strength and determination. 
The country occupied by the Chartered Company may be divided 
into two parts, viz., the low-lying wooded country or “ bush veldt,” 
and the high, open plateau or “ high veldt,” which forms the main and 
most valued portion of the territory, and which is, strictly speaking, 
Mashonaland, as the real Mashona tribes do not inhabit the low-lying 
portion of the country, but confine themselves to the elevated plateaus 
further inland. 
Fort Tuli is in the low bush veldt, and from this place the main road 
to Salisbury lies, for the first 200 miles, through the same sort of 
country, and then leads up by a gradual ascent to the high open plateau 
of Mashonaland. This “ bush veldt” is sparsely inhabited by a few 
scattered tribes called Makalakas, who acknowledge no paramount 
chief, but live in constant dread of having their homes pounced upon 
by marauding parties of the powerful and warlike Matabelc, who in- 
