Jiggers Got Into Our Feet When Sleeping On The
Ground, And These Caused Great Pain And Annoyance.
Someone has
described a jigger as "a cross between Satan and a woodtick." The
little insects lay their eggs between the skin and flesh.
When the
young hatch out, they begin feeding on the blood, and quickly grow
half an inch long and cause an intense itching. My feet were swollen
so much that I could not get on my riding-boots, and, consequently,
my lower limbs were more exposed than ever. If not soon cut out, the
flesh around them begins to rot, and mortification sometimes ensues.
On some of the savannas we were able to kill deer and ostrich, but
they generally were very scarce. Our fare was varied; sometimes we
feaisted on parrot pie or vultures eggs; again we lay down on the
hard, stony ground supperless. At such times I would be compelled to
rise from time to time and tighten up my belt, until I must have
resembled one of the ladies of fashion, so far as the waist was
concerned. Again we came to marshy ground, filled with royal duck,
teal, water-hens, snipe, etc, and forgot the pangs of past hunger. At
such places we would fill our horns and drink the putrid water, or
take off our shirts and wash them and our bodies. Mud had to serve
for soap. Our washing, spread out on the reeds, would soon dry, and
off we would start for another stage.
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