﻿AND 
  BIG 
  GAME 
  IN 
  S. 
  RHODESIA. 
  99 
  

  

  be 
  attached 
  to 
  such 
  observations. 
  Whilst 
  aware 
  that 
  considerable 
  evidence 
  has 
  been 
  

   brought 
  forward 
  to 
  show 
  that 
  in 
  other 
  parts 
  of 
  Africa 
  tsetse 
  may 
  occur 
  in 
  abundance 
  

   where 
  no 
  big 
  game 
  is 
  found 
  at 
  any 
  season, 
  the 
  writer 
  is 
  forced 
  to 
  deal 
  only 
  with 
  

   Southern 
  Rhodesia, 
  where 
  no 
  such 
  instances 
  have 
  come 
  under 
  observation. 
  

  

  Turning 
  now 
  to 
  broader 
  considerations, 
  the 
  evidence 
  in 
  favour 
  of 
  the 
  necessity 
  

   of 
  big 
  game 
  to 
  the 
  tsetse 
  in 
  Southern 
  Rhodesia 
  and 
  adjacent 
  territory 
  may 
  be 
  summed 
  

   up 
  under 
  four 
  heads 
  : 
  — 
  

  

  (1) 
  Tsetse 
  retired 
  before 
  the 
  advance 
  of 
  civilisation 
  in 
  the 
  Transvaal, 
  the 
  only 
  

   known 
  modification 
  of 
  conditions 
  being 
  the 
  destruction 
  of 
  the 
  game. 
  

  

  (2) 
  Tsetse 
  disappeared 
  from 
  large 
  tracts 
  of 
  country 
  immediately 
  after 
  the 
  

   rinderpest 
  epizootic 
  in 
  1896. 
  

  

  (3) 
  Tsetse 
  has 
  increased 
  and 
  spread 
  since 
  the 
  rinderpest 
  only 
  in 
  those 
  parts 
  of 
  

   Southern 
  Rhodesia 
  where 
  big 
  game 
  has 
  increased. 
  

  

  (4) 
  Tsetse 
  has 
  greatly 
  decreased 
  of 
  late 
  years 
  in 
  the 
  Hartley 
  district 
  in 
  those 
  

   parts 
  where 
  the 
  big 
  game 
  has 
  been 
  most 
  effectively 
  destroyed 
  or 
  driven 
  away. 
  

  

  Concerning 
  (1) 
  the 
  writer 
  must 
  confess 
  to 
  the 
  opinion 
  that 
  sufficient 
  weight 
  has 
  

   hardly 
  been 
  attached 
  to 
  the 
  phenomenon 
  of 
  the 
  retirement 
  of 
  the 
  tsetse 
  before 
  the 
  

   advance 
  of 
  the 
  white 
  man, 
  for 
  in 
  conjunction 
  with 
  subsequent 
  events 
  in 
  this 
  territory 
  

   and 
  elsewhere, 
  this 
  is 
  one 
  of 
  the 
  most 
  weighty 
  arguments 
  for 
  the 
  vital 
  association 
  

   of 
  the 
  fly 
  with 
  big 
  game. 
  The 
  advance 
  of 
  settlement 
  was 
  preceded 
  by 
  the 
  wholesale 
  

   destruction 
  and 
  driving 
  away 
  of 
  the 
  larger 
  fauna 
  of 
  the 
  forest, 
  and 
  for 
  many 
  years 
  

   this 
  was 
  the 
  sole 
  modification 
  of 
  natural 
  conditions 
  due 
  to 
  the 
  advent 
  of 
  the 
  European. 
  

   The 
  only 
  attempt 
  at 
  a 
  suggestion 
  of 
  other 
  changes 
  that 
  might 
  conceivably 
  have 
  had 
  

   an 
  adverse 
  effect 
  on 
  the 
  tsetse 
  appears 
  to 
  be 
  that 
  settlement 
  implies 
  a 
  certain 
  amount 
  

   of 
  clearing 
  of 
  the 
  forest, 
  but 
  it 
  is 
  quite 
  obvious 
  that 
  settlement 
  did 
  not 
  penetrate 
  

   into 
  fly-infested 
  country, 
  but 
  pushed 
  the 
  pest 
  back 
  before 
  it 
  ; 
  that 
  is 
  to 
  say, 
  that 
  

   farms 
  were 
  not 
  worked 
  " 
  in 
  the 
  fly," 
  for 
  very 
  natural 
  reasons, 
  and 
  that 
  therefore, 
  

   as 
  a 
  general 
  rule, 
  no 
  clearing 
  of 
  any 
  extent 
  occurred 
  in 
  the 
  forest 
  until 
  the 
  fly 
  had 
  

   practically 
  disappeared 
  from 
  it. 
  As 
  a 
  matter 
  of 
  fact 
  but 
  little 
  clearing 
  usually 
  occurs 
  

   on 
  pioneer 
  farms 
  in 
  South 
  Africa 
  for 
  many 
  years 
  after 
  occupation, 
  unless 
  the 
  farmer 
  

   happens 
  to 
  be 
  a 
  man 
  of 
  considerable 
  substance 
  and 
  enterprise, 
  bent 
  on 
  developing 
  

   his 
  farm 
  agriculturally, 
  attributes 
  hardly 
  characteristic 
  of 
  the 
  voor-trekkers 
  in 
  the 
  

   Transvaal, 
  who 
  were 
  primarily 
  stock-owners. 
  Where 
  could 
  farmers 
  find 
  a 
  market 
  

   for 
  great 
  quantities 
  of 
  agricultural 
  produce 
  in 
  those 
  remote 
  undeveloped 
  parts 
  ? 
  

  

  To 
  pass 
  on 
  to 
  (2), 
  the 
  total 
  disappearance 
  of 
  the 
  fly 
  from 
  some 
  parts 
  of 
  Africa 
  and 
  

   its 
  great 
  reduction 
  in 
  others 
  after 
  destruction 
  of 
  the 
  bulk 
  of 
  the 
  game 
  by 
  rinderpest 
  

   is, 
  of 
  course, 
  a 
  very 
  strong 
  argument 
  for 
  the 
  dependence 
  of 
  the 
  fly 
  on 
  game, 
  but 
  the 
  

   fact 
  is 
  so 
  notorious 
  that 
  its 
  force 
  in 
  connexion 
  with 
  the 
  subject 
  of 
  this 
  paper 
  calls 
  

   for 
  no 
  particular 
  comment. 
  In 
  Southern 
  Rhodesia 
  the 
  pest 
  has 
  never 
  reappeared 
  

   in 
  certain 
  localities. 
  There 
  is 
  no 
  tsetse 
  now 
  on 
  the 
  Limpopo 
  and 
  Sabi 
  Rivers 
  

   within 
  the 
  Rhodesian 
  borders 
  ; 
  there 
  is 
  none 
  in 
  the 
  Bulalima-Mangwe 
  and 
  Bubi 
  

   districts, 
  near 
  Selukwe 
  in 
  the 
  Gwelo 
  district, 
  along 
  the 
  Zambesi 
  near 
  the 
  Victoria 
  Falls, 
  

   or 
  in 
  the 
  Wankies 
  district, 
  in 
  all 
  of 
  which 
  it 
  used 
  to 
  occur 
  in 
  varying 
  abundance 
  

   according 
  to 
  the 
  reports 
  of 
  early 
  hunters 
  and 
  traders. 
  (The 
  areas 
  coloured 
  blue 
  in 
  

   Map 
  I 
  have 
  been 
  mainly 
  drawn 
  from 
  the 
  writings 
  quoted 
  in 
  Austen's 
  " 
  Monograph 
  

   of 
  the 
  Tsetse 
  Flies," 
  with 
  additions 
  obtained 
  from 
  other 
  sources, 
  or 
  copied 
  from 
  

   (53) 
  a2 
  

  

  