IX DISAPPEARANCE OF BUFFALOES & 'FLY' 155 



year round. Constant persecution from about 1876 

 onwards, chiefly by natives armed with guns, soon 

 stopped the buffaloes from coming into the "fly" 

 belts crossed by the waggon road to the Zambesi, 

 and a few years later these animals had also entirely 

 ceased to visit the southern bank of the Zambesi 

 between the Victoria Falls and the mouth of the 

 Chobi. After the buffaloes ceased to visit the 

 tracts of forests infested by "fly" on the road to 

 the Zambesi, these insects very soon entirely died 

 out, though other kinds of game still remained in 

 both those districts. Along the southern bank of 

 the Zambesi to the west of the Victoria Falls the 

 tse-tse flies began to diminish in numbers as soon 

 as the buffaloes ceased to frequent this part of the 

 country. It took some years certainly before the 

 tse-tse had quite died out in this strip of country, 

 but for many years past now neither buffaloes nor 

 tse-tse flies have been seen in that district, where, 

 however, game of various kinds other than buffaloes 

 continued to exist long after the tse-tse flies had 

 completely disappeared. 



When exactly the buffaloes ceased to visit the 

 neighbourhood of the Victoria Falls and the two 

 tracts of country that were once known as "fly" belts 

 on the road to the Zambesi, and how long It was 

 after the disappearance of these animals that the 

 tse-tse flies entirely died out in these same districts, 

 I have been unable to ascertain. In 1874 I found 

 both buffaloes and tse-tse flies in all these districts, 

 and in 1877, on my second visit to the Zambesi, 

 although I did not see any buffaloes or their fresh 

 tracks in the two " fly " belts crossed by the waggon 

 road, tse-tse flies still haunted both these localities, 

 as I myself observed, and as has also been recorded 

 by the late Dr. B. F. Bradshaw. I believe, how- 

 ever, that these insects were at that time rapidly 

 diminishing in numbers in both those districts. 



