!>88 CAPT. CEAWSHAY ON TSETSE IN NYASALAND. 



years have decreased very mucli in the Eastern portion, or have even 

 become extinct in some localities, owing probably to the disappear- 

 ance of the larger game, such as elephants, rhinoceros, and buffalo. 



" During my earlier visits to this part of Africa, between 1883 

 and 1890, 1 encountered them practically wherever I went : — e.g ., 

 on the Lower Shiri River, numerous in the Elephant Marsh so 

 lately only as in 1891 — the last time I was there ; on the Blantyre- 

 Matope Road, on the Lirangwi flafcs at Sambamwali and Nachimvu; 

 very numerous opposite Matope on the Upper Shiri, where buffalo 

 were very plentiful ; and wherever, almost, one touched on the 

 W. Coast of Lake Nyasa — notably at and around Deep Bay. 



" Nowhere in the eastern portion of the Protectorate do I 

 recollect having seen them very numei-ous, unless perhaps opposite 

 Matope; nor have I experienced any great annoyance from their 

 bites, as compared with the torture one has undergone in the 

 western region. There, in 1891 and 1892, I found them a 

 terrible ordeal in the country lying between the S.W. portion 

 of Lake Tanganyika (' Liemba ' of the natives) and Lake Mweru. 

 In Kabwiri they simply swarmed : I shall not soon forget the 

 Mofwi Valley and the Kalongwizi Flats ! 



" Many people are of opinion that ' Tse-Tse' do not bite man, 

 or that if they do their bite is not painful. This theoiy is soon 

 dispelled in the Mweru country. There, marchmg at the head of 

 my caravan — as one does, to be ready for game — I have had as 

 many as forty or fifty ' Tse-Tse ' at me at the same time. Life 

 was not worth living on the march : there was no getting a 

 moment's peace : a large leafy branch had to be kept going 

 incessantly round one's head, neck, and arms, and even then one 

 received many bites. ' Tse-Tse ' are most active and vicious 

 assailants, and there is no luuit to their perseverance ; they care 

 nothing for the flip of a fly-switch or a leafy branch, neither are 

 they easily felled to the ground with a slap of the hand, but fly 

 ofl' apparently none the worse : a blow sufl[icient to fell an 

 ordinary blue-bottle will not fell the ' Tse-Tse.' 



" It will convey some idea of how bold they are when I say 

 that they will creep in under one's shirt, when open at the chest, 

 and are not disturbed by the garment touching them. 



" During the hottest hours of the day they are most aggressive, 

 but they bite at any time, even at night, when it is bright moon- 

 light. Their flight is powerful and noisy : the buzz is full-toned 

 and somewhat highly pitched : — not dull and droning like the 

 buzz of the ordinary horse-fly : they do not settle as slowly as 

 the horse-fly, but land with a bump, standing well up on their 

 legs. When a ' Tse-Tse ' settles with the intention of feeding — • 

 in the early mornings they usually simply settle on men's backs 

 to sun themselves, away from the gi'ound and vegetation wet 

 with the dew — he inserts his proboscis, lowers his head, and 

 raises his abdomen until it is almost vertical : when doing this, 



