THE WILD FAUNA OF THE EMPIRE 13 



no way due to game, but has been caused by * the opening up of 

 the country,' the making of roads and the movement along them 

 of gangs of natives, and the ' passage of thousands of head of 

 cattle . . • from German East Africa to Southern Rhodesia.' 

 Mr. Harger stated that he had * good reason to believe ' that the 



* future policy of the administrations of both North-Eastern and 

 North-Western Rhodesia ' is to destroy the game ' in view of for- 

 warding the cattle-raising industry,' under the impression that 



* the destruction of game will cause the disappearance of the 

 tsetse.' Mr. Harger's letter elicited a response from Mr. Selous, 

 who remarked that the previous writer's experience of tsetse-fly 

 in Northern Rhodesia appeared to be ' entirely opposed to the 

 well-known historical facts concerning these insects in the 

 countries to the south of the Zambesi.' Mr. Selous, whose un- 

 rivalled knowledge of big game in the countries bordering on the 

 Limpopo, Zambesi, and Chobe rivers no one will wish to dispute, 

 is acquainted with * no single instance of tsetse-flies extending 

 their range along trade routes and waggon roads which intersected 

 the well-defined areas where they were known to be present. ' On 

 the other hand, he stoutly maintains that the history of Africa 

 south of the Zambesi has proved beyond all possibility of question 

 that, in this part of the continent, at any rate, the existence of 

 Glossina morsitans is ahsolmtely ho7ind np with that of the buffalo ; 

 and that, once buffaloes have been exterminated in or driven from 

 any locality in which they and this species of tsetse formerly 

 abounded, the fly has not long survived them, and has become 

 absolutely extinct in the course of a few years. Mr. Selous 's ex- 

 perience has been that other species of game, even though they 

 continued to be abundant in the very places vacated by the 

 buffaloes, do not suffice for the physical needs of Glossina morsi- 

 tans, and he therefore recommends that, if an experiment of the 

 kind suggested by Mr. Hastings be tried, it should be limited to 

 driving away Biihalus caffer. His conclusion is that ' To exter- 

 minate game of all kinds in a country in order to get rid of tsetse- 

 fly would not only be an abominable crime, but an absolutely un- 

 necessary one ; but in any country to the south of the Zambesi and 

 north of the 28th parallel of south latitude where the elevation is 

 less than 3,000 ft. above sea-level, you cannot have buffaloes with- 

 out having tsetse-flies as well.' ^ 



The gauntlet thrown down by Mr. Selous was taken up by 

 Sir Alfred Sharpe,- whose experience has been entirely north of 

 the Zambesi. Sir Alfred stated that he was for a time content to 

 accept the view, ' formerly very generally held,' that fly was 

 ' dependent on wild game for its existence ' ; but that ' after some 

 years of very careful observation of tsetse and their habits 

 throughout the British Central Africa Protectorate, in parts of 



1 The Field, October 5, 1907, p. 620, ^ JMd. October 19, 1907, p. 707. 



