8 TSETSE AND EIYEK-BANKS : LOCAL SWARMS. 



the Ncloma Palm."* Similarly in SieiTa Leone Glossina palpalis 

 occurs in mangrove thickets where streams enter the sea. 



It is curious that Sir Harry Johnston [125] should have 

 committed himself to the statement that the Tsetse-fly " appears 

 never to go near the edge of a river," and has " a great dislike 

 to water" [145], since the universal experience of travellers and 

 spoi'tsmen is that precisely the reverse is the case. Thus Mr. F. 

 C. Selous [76I, writing in 1881 of the plague of Tsetse-flies along 

 the southern bank of the Zambesi and Chobe, to the westward 

 of the Victoria Falls, states that they are " usually found in 

 great numbers near the river," and that " along the water's edge 

 they are an incredible pest. ..." Instances to the same efiect 

 might be multiplied, but as they are all recorded in the Biblio- 

 graphy it will suffice to refer the reader to the testimony of, 

 among others, Thomas Baines [26] (Tsetse at the Victoria Falls); 

 Sir John Kirk [28], who states that the Tsetse extends along 

 the banks of the Rovuma River for 115 miles; E. C. Hore [78] 

 (Tsetse-fly on the shores of Lake Tanganyika) ; and Dr. Holub 

 [no] (abundance of Tsetse at the water's edge on the Mo-Njeko 

 River, August 7th, 1886). 



Within the limits of a fly-belt, however, Tsetse are not 

 always numerous, and it may happen that only a few specimens 

 are encountered in the course of a day. On the other hand they 

 are often met with in much greater numbers. In the passage 

 already referred to, Selous [76] speaks of the fly " attacking one 

 in a perfect swarm, from daylight to sunset ...."; David and 

 Charles Livingstone [27] j writing in 1865 of their experience of 

 the Tsetse-fly in a valley to the west of Zumbo, state that the 

 flies " accompany us on the march, often buzzing round our 

 heads like a swarm of bees " ; Captain F. F. Carter [66] in 1880 

 found " Tsetse-fly in thousands " on the site of a large deserted 

 village, near Karema, German East Africa ; Selous [86], 

 writing of Mashunaland in 1882, speaks of the Tsetse as 

 " swarming " along the Panyame and Umsengaisi Rivers, and 

 as occurring in another locality " in millions." The late W, M. 

 Kerr [98], describing his experience of Tsetse on the Mukumbra 

 River in 1884, states that "the stifling sultry air was literally 

 alive with the Tsetse-fly, against whose maddening attacks 

 clothes were no protection, our only safeguard being to beat 

 them ofi" with twigs and small branches of shrubs. . . ." 

 M. Edouard Foa gives a similarly graphic account of an 



* Chapter VII., Appendix C, p. 294. 



