IX THE BATAUWANA i6i 



the " fly," which now infested the waggon track 

 leading from Leshuma to Kazungula in considerable 

 numbers, the nights had become very warm, and 

 although we did not start till after eleven o'clock, 

 and ran the oxen to the river and brought the 

 waggon back as quickly as possible, every one of 

 them, twenty-one in all, got "fly-stuck" and died 

 within six months. 



After 1888 the tse-tse flies again rapidly 

 diminished in numbers between Leshuma and 

 Kazungula, and have long since absolutely ceased 

 to exist there ; so that here again we have another 

 instance of a country in which, at no very distant 

 time, both buffaloes and tse-tse flies literally 

 swarmed, but from which both have now long since 

 completely disappeared, although other animals, such 

 as antelopes of various kinds and baboons, cannot 

 yet be altogether extinct. 



The same diminution and eventual disappearance 

 of the tse-tse fly has also followed the extinction of 

 the buffalo on the Okavango to the north of Lake 

 N'gami. 



As has been recorded by C. J. Andersson and 

 other travellers and hunters, both buffaloes and 

 tse-tse flies existed in great numbers along the 

 Teoge (Okavango) river between Lake N'gami and 

 Libebe's in the early 'fifties of the last century. At 

 that time the Batauwana tribe were living at Lake 

 N'gami. These people gradually acquired firearms 

 and drove the buffaloes northwards up the Okavango, 

 and the fly did not long remain in the countries 

 which these animals ceased to visit. In 1884, after 

 having been twice attacked by the Matabele, the 

 Batauwana abandoned their settlements at Lake 

 N'gami and retreated several days' journey to the 

 north along the Okavango, where they built a new 

 town, which they named Denukani (on the river). 

 From this point they have now been hunting 



M 



