No Mango-Tree Either Is
To Be Met With Beyond This Point, Because The Portuguese Traders
Never Established Themselves Anywhere Beyond Zumbo.
Tsetse flies are
more numerous and troublesome than we have ever before found them.
They accompany us on the march, often buzzing round our heads like a
swarm of bees.
They are very cunning, and when intending to bite,
alight so gently that their presence is not perceived till they
thrust in their lance-like proboscis. The bite is acute, but the
pain is over in a moment; it is followed by a little of the
disagreeable itching of the mosquito's bite. This fly invariably
kills all domestic animals except goats and donkeys; man and the wild
animals escape. We ourselves were severely bitten on this pass, and
so were our donkeys, but neither suffered from any after effects.
Water is scarce in the Mburuma pass, except during the rainy season.
We however halted beside some fine springs in the bed of the now dry
rivulet, Podebode, which is continued down to the end of the pass,
and yields water at intervals in pools. Here we remained a couple of
days in consequence of the severe illness of Dr. Kirk. He had
several times been attacked by fever; and observed that when we were
on the cool heights he was comfortable, but when we happened to
descend from a high to a lower altitude, he felt chilly, though the
temperature in the latter case was 25 degrees higher than it was
above; he had been trying different medicines of reputed efficacy
with a view to ascertain whether other combinations might not be
superior to the preparation we generally used; in halting by this
water he suddenly became blind, and unable to stand from faintness.
The men, with great alacrity, prepared a grassy bed, on which we laid
our companion, with the sad forebodings which only those who have
tended the sick in a wild country can realize.
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