The following are the first symptoms in oxen of being bitten: A swelling under the throat, which, if lanced, emits a yellowish fluid; the hair stands on end or reversed; they become debilitated, and though the herbage is ever so luxuriant, refuse to fill themselves and become very thin; their eyes water, and at length, when their end is approaching, a continual rattling in the throat or chest may be heard a few paces off. Sometimes one out of the number recovers, but very rarely, and only when it has no work to perform after being bitten. Horses generally swell about the eyes, nostrils, and testacles, where, probably, the bites are most numerous; the hair becomes reversed, and pining gradually away, they die. Both cattle and horses live from a fortnight to six months after being bitten, but generally all die shortly after the first rain falls.
After death the heart of an ox is encased in a yellowish and glutinous substance, which might be mistaken for fat. The flesh is full of little bladders of water, and the blood is half water at heart, which, on cooling, becomes congealed into a yellow glutinous substance. The vitals are of a livid colour.
We do not believe that the flesh is rendered unfit for food if the animal be killed in the early stages, but when the poison has made much progress in the blood, and the creature becomes much out of condition, it must of course be greatly deteriorated. We do not know of any remedy, and no certain preventive; it would be a great boon to travellers if any composition, disgusting to the insect, innoxious to the animal, and easy of carriage and application, could be discovered. We have heard a hunter propose to tar his horse, and then ride “into the fly,” and shoot elephants; and it is supposed that the anointing of cattle with their own excrement mixed with milk will save them from being bitten, but both these expedients, beside being annoying to the animals, would be liable to lose their efficacy in a short time.
Catching cattle.
The vang-stock is generally used to slip the noose over the hind leg of an ox unwilling to be caught. If a turn can be got round the other leg so much the better; another noose is thrown over his horns; men catch him by the tail, another seizes him by the horns, using them as levers, and, with all his members thus pushed and hauled in contrary directions, down he must go. If he is meant for a waggon ox the yoke is put upon his neck, and once fast in the middle of a dozen well-drilled yokefellows his struggles are unavailing, and he soon begins to feel the necessity of taking kindly to his work.
If he is wanted for a pack ox, a hole is bored through the cartilage of the nose, and a small stick 4in. or 6in. long, with a fork at one end like a Y pushed through; this serves as a bit, to which his halter is made fast; a long reim is passed very tightly, with many turns, round his body, some old skins are tied upon his back, and he is forced to stand or walk with these for several hours. Next day heavier packages are put on, and he is thus exercised till he is well accustomed to carry a load. The Kafirs very frequently tie packages upon the horns of their oxen. For riding oxen, those that seem of a less gregarious or dependent temper, and go most freely alone, are selected, as they give less trouble to the rider. Many of the most highly valued have loose, pendent horns, swinging, like locks of hair, with every motion of the head. We believe this is malformation, and is produced by beating and breaking the core of the horn while still young. In riding, the reim is carried from the nose-bit over the forehead, and thus the nose can be jerked up into the air at the rider’s pleasure, or the animal guided by a gentle pull from side to side.
Riding oxen.
Among completely uncivilised Kafirs or Hottentots the ox is ridden with only a few skins lashed on his back, but after communication with Europeans they generally improvise some sort of saddle, perhaps a couple of pads connected by strips of skin, or a piece of skin with the ends turned up towards the middle and stitched, so as to form two bags, which may be filled either with grass or with any soft articles that have to be carried. We have ridden oxen very comfortably with an English saddle, and have used spurs, which are well enough for gentle admonition, but the sambok, or hide whip, must be at hand as a more convincing argument.
The armament of a hunter is expensive. A couple of hundred pounds may very easily be spent upon his rifles, without subjecting him to the imputation of extravagance. He must have his good, stout, plain gun (smooth-bored) for general purposes—double-barrel, of eleven gauge; then his rifles, carrying bullets of from 2oz. to 6oz. each; and most probably one or more smooth bores, of still heavier metal, for night shooting at close quarters, when extreme accuracy of aim is not of much importance, and where the shock to the nervous system by the concussion of a large round bullet which bruises the parts around, instead of merely penetrating them like the sharp pointed cylindro-conical, is much more likely to bring down the animal before he has had time to wander very far from the place where he was shot.
Powder is required in large quantities, for, besides being always liable to waste or injury from damp, the loading of guns, with from 6drs. to 10drs. to a charge, the number of shots fired for practice at ant-hills, ineffectively in the chase, or shot away by native servants, counts for something. A liberal stock of shot of various sizes, caps, wadding, and gun requisites should be laid in.