IX 'FLY' NUMEROUS NEAR ZUMBO 173 



Portuguese residents as well as the natives living 

 there in the possession of great numbers of pigs. 

 These animals were sent out every morning into 

 the country round the settlement, and called back 

 in the evening — those which belonged to the 

 Portuguese — by a few notes on a horn. A little 

 maize was then scattered on the ground for them 

 to pick up, after which they were shut up for the 

 night in a walled enclosure. As tse-tse flies were 

 numerous along the bank of the Zambesi on both sides 

 of Zumbo, and it was quite impossible to keep cattle 

 there on account of them, or any other domestic 

 animals besides the pigs, except the small native goats, 

 the former must have been equally as resistant to " fly " 

 poison as the latter. These domestic pigs certainly 

 did not owe their immunity to the "fly" disease to 

 the fact that they were fat, for they were miserably 

 thin long-snouted looking brutes. Although the pigs 

 I saw at Zumbo probably did not go very far away 

 from the settlement during the daytime, I feel sure 

 that they must have been constantly bitten by tse-tse 

 flies, as these insects were numerous quite close up 

 to the native village, which is built amongst the ruins 

 of the old Portuguese town. 



All the natives living in " fly "-infested districts of 

 South Africa keep small, miserable-looking dogs, as 

 well as goats of a small, indigenous breed, and the 

 natives outside such infested districts also keep 

 goats of the same kind. These goats take no harm 

 from the tse-tse flies ; but the large Cape goats, 

 which are descended from European breeds, as 

 well as Angora goats, are not resistant to the "fly" 

 disease. Nor are any dogs of European breeds. 



In 1 89 1 my two horses were suddenly attacked 

 by tse-tse flies as I was riding with a companion 

 along the bank of the Revue river, where the local 

 Kafirs had told me these insects did not exist. 

 Luckily, being so well acquainted with the peculiar 



