TSETSE AND BUFFALO. 15 



writers, the Tsetse follows the movements of the big game, and 

 should the latter return to a locality from which it has been 

 driven out the fly may come back with it. This is stated to 

 have happened in the country between the Gwaai and Deka 

 rivers in Rhodesia, in consequence of Matabele and other raids 

 [77> 153] > ^^^ similarly in Zululand the Tsetse is said to have 

 increased in numbei-s, as an indirect result of the Zulu War of 

 1879, since the devastation of many inhabited tracts caused by 

 the campaign led to the multiplication of wild animals in these 

 localities. 



Whether the Tsetse is more partial to and more dependent 

 upoii one species of game than another is doubtful, although the 

 majority of wi-iters, from Chapman [30] onwards, have stated 

 that it is especially associated with the buffalo. Most of these 

 statements naturally refer to South Africa, and a possible 

 explanation is that in that region, prior to the advent of the 

 rinderpest, the buffalo was more abundant than other game in 

 precisely those localities beloved by the Tsetse [cf. Selous, 76]. 

 In Central and East Africa, at any rate, as shown by the letters 

 from well-qualified observers printed in Chapter VII., Appendix 

 C, and elicited by the assertion that to protect the buffalo would 

 be tantamount to protecting the Tsetse as well, the latter does 

 not appear to be more dependent upon the buffalo than upon any 

 other species of game. The association of the Tsetse with the 

 buffalo in South Africa has led to the belief that the fly breeds 

 in the dung of that animal, but thanks to the observations of 

 Colonel Bruce we now know that this idea is without foundation. 

 In addition to the buffalo, various writers have stated that they 

 have found the Tsetse associated with the elephant, rhinoceros, 

 and the larger antelopes, while Livingstone [49], who met with 

 the Tsetse on the Rovuma River in 1866, found that the only 

 game in that locality were hippopotamus and pig. 



Although it has been stated by Colonel Bruce 

 Prevalence that, so far as he is aware. " Nagana is not 



confined to certain months of the year as 

 Surra is," * the Tsetse itself, where it occurs, would appear to be 

 more abundant at one season of the year than at another, while 

 temporarily it may even be absent altogether. Thus, according to 

 Buxton [41] : " The fly appears only at certain seasons, . . . The 

 head of a kraal, about thirty miles distant from the point where 

 we found the Tsetse most abundant, told us at that time the fly 



* Cf. Chapter VII., Appendix A, p. 286. 



