244 T8ETSE AND MINING IN EHODESIA. 



The Arabs at Sena accused of having poisoned the 

 horses and camels of Captain-General Francisco Barreto's 

 expedition from Quelimane to Sena in 1569, "What 

 really took place, however, seems to have been that the 

 horses and camels were exposed to the bite of the Tsetse- 

 fly, and died in consequence of the attacks of this 

 venomous insect" (p. 48). 



161. 1899. William Harvey Brown, 



" On the South African Frontier. The Adventures 

 and Observations of an American in Mashonaland and 

 Matabeleland " (London : Sampson Low, Marston & Co.), 

 pp. 151, 314-315, 



Tsetse-fly numerous in tlie Concession Mill district, west 

 of Hartley Hill, Mashonaland, Jan. 1, 1891. 



" The sky was overcast with heavy clouds ; the atmos- 

 phere was damp, and the day warm. , . . Much of the 

 country through which we travelled was covered with 

 enormous ant-heaps and thick jungle. 



" In some places the Tsetse-flies were exceedingly 

 troublesome, even biting through our clothing" (p, 151), 



" In addition to pleuro-pneumonia among cattle, and 

 horse-sickness among horses, there is in Rhodesia that 

 worst of all scourges to stock, the Tsetse-fly. This is a 

 great drawback to the importation of machinery to many 

 of the mining districts, which lie in the fly-infested 

 sections. Traction-engines and railways will be necessary 

 to overcome the obstacles created by this insect pest. 

 Fortunately, the Tsetse-fly does not occur on the plateau. 

 It is met with mainly in the low-lying country bordering 

 the Zambesi River. This insect is somewhat similar in 

 appearance to a house-fly, but about three times as lai"ge. 

 Its bite is fatal to all domestic animals, but it does not 

 seem to affect wild game or man. When badly bitten, 

 horses and cattle usually succumb in two or three weeks. 

 Donkeys last longer. Few animals, however, ever recover 

 from its bite. Until recently the supposition has been 

 entertained that a direct poison is introduced into the 

 system by the bite of the fly. Surgeon-Major David 

 Bruce, of the British Army, after a long series of 

 experiments in Zululand, has advanced the theory that 

 ' the Tsetse acts as ji carrier of a living virus, an infinitely 



