IX LETTER FROM MR. REID 157 



trips to the Chobi and Zambesi rivers, the last two 

 of which were undertaken, the one the year before 

 and the other three years after the epidemic of 

 rinderpest had killed off all the buffaloes on the 

 lower course of the Chobi river, throws a great 

 deal of light on the disputed question as to whether 

 or no there is or has ever been any connection 

 between the buffalo and the tse-tse fly in South 

 Africa. 



In the course of his letter Mr. Reid says : 



I was at Kazungula (the junction of the Chobi and 

 Zambesi rivers) in 1885, 1888, 1895, and 1899. In 

 1885 I did not take my oxen beyond Pandamatenka, as 

 it was not considered safe to take them to Kazungula ; 

 but even in that year I saw no " fly " between Leshuma -^ 

 and the junction of the rivers, though I remember that a 

 few were said to still exist there at that time. There 

 were no buffalo there then, and the fact that the " fly " 

 still lingered in this district was put down, though I do 

 not know with how much truth, to the great number of 

 baboons which, as you will remember, always frequented 

 the bush near Kazungula. 



In 1888 and subsequent years I sent oxen and horses 

 backwards and forwards from the river to Leshuma at all 

 hours of the day, and never lost any from " fly " bites. 



In 1895 there were plenty of both fly and buffalo up 

 the Majili,^ and swarms of fly up the Chobi, but I did not 

 go very far, and saw no buffalo there. 



In 1899, only three years after the rinderpest had 

 swept off all the buffaloes, I went along the north bank 

 of the Chobi right past Linyanti, and, crossing above the 

 swamps, came back along the south bank. There was 

 not a fly to be seen where, only four years before, I had 

 counted thirty or forty on a native's back at one time, 

 and we had actually to light fires and sit in the smoke to 



^ Leshuma is ten miles south of Kazungula. 



^ A river running into the Zambesi from the north, not far above its junction 

 with the Chobi. 



