3^8 GAME AND GAMK PRESERVATION IN ZULULAND. 



assertion, has made certain statements in letters addressed to 

 Government officials. In one he has made it quite clear that he 

 considers the kudu mainly responsible, while presumably ex- 

 onerating the zebra, for he writes " zebra and donkeys quite 

 take to each other. I have had zebra stay all day with my don- 

 keys ... I had two donkeys go oft with zebra for miles.'' 

 In an'.rher letter he writes: "' The fly are harmless where there 

 are no kudu for them to suck from." Further, after eulogising 

 the zebra as a transport animal, he adds : " They are not affected 

 by the fly," a remark which, by the way. has little bearing upon 

 the point at issue ! These are definite statements, almost amount- 

 ing to dogmatism, yet their value may be assessed from the con- 

 clusions arrived at by the Veterinary Research Officer after his 

 work in Zululand. He placed the kudu first upon his list of 

 dangerous and suspected game, while the zebra came next, and 

 the bush-pig (which is "vermin") is third. The above- 

 mentioned resident has always asserted that the waterbuck is 

 blameless, but we find it upon the black list of the Veterinary 

 Research Officer, though whether justly so I am inclined to 

 doubt. 



All this goes to confirm the old saying, " quut homines, tot 

 sententicc," and at least it should satisfy one section of the opjK)- 

 sition, seeing that amongst the diverse opinions ex])ressed. scarcely 

 any one of the game animals escapes condemnation. 



The rinderpest plague of some years ago has furnislied the 

 opposition with a good deal of material for apparently plausible 

 argument, if positive assertion may l)e so called. 



The Veterinary Research Officer thnnvs very little light upon 

 its relation to the mysterious partial disappearance of the tsetse- 

 fly, with which it certainly synchronised, not only in Natal but 

 in the Transvaal also. It is commonly asserted that the fly died 

 oft" because their food supply failed through the destruction of 

 buffalo and kudu by the plague, but I dn not think tliat argument 

 will bear investigation. 



To be of any value it would have to be shown that not only 

 two sources of food supply failed, but that there was an appre- 

 ciable diminution of all sources. But we know that this was not 

 the case, and that on the contrary, it being well established that 

 the fiy feeds on all warm-blooded mammals, tliere could have 

 been l)Ut a comparatively small percentage of the sui)ply cut off'. 



Zebra, the second on the black list, were immune from the 

 di.sease ; and wildebeesten. fourth on the same list, suffered but 

 very slightly, if at all; conse(|uently these were still left in great 

 numbers, as well as very many l)ushbuck. 



The ])resence of these species alone would have furnished 

 ample food sup])ly for the fly, to say nothing of such bush-pig. 

 buffalo, and kudu as certainly remained. Unfortunately for 

 Zululand game, the after results of the plague were not so satis- 

 factory as in the Transvaal, where the fly never occurred again, at 

 least, not in the (iame Reserves. 



I lean to the opinion that ])ossilily a certain proi)ortion of the 



