THE BUFFALO 251 



both in bush and in open country, and on one 

 occasion before I had fired a shot or done anything 

 whatsoever to irritate the animal. I feel, therefore, 

 that, as doubtless in the cases of others of the 

 dangerous types of wild animals, they should be 

 hunted without any regard to the experiences of 

 other persons, and each, as it were, upon its own 

 merits, and with careful retention in the memory 

 of the vital fact that, from the moment he becomes 

 irritated, every beast is a law unto himself. 



I cannot conclude my remarks on this animal, 

 however, without some reference to the interesting 

 controversy which occupied the columns of the 

 Field during the latter portion of 1907 relative to 

 the views of such observers as Sir Alfred Sharpe 

 and Mr. Selous regarding the dependence of the 

 Tse-tse fly for its existence upon the blood of the 

 buiFalo — or, indeed, upon that of any species of 

 wild game. The first-named authority expressed 

 the opinion, held by a number of such well-known 

 and competent writers upon the great game of 

 Africa as Major J. Stevenson-Hamilton, Major F. 

 A. Pearce, C.M.G., and others, that in so far as 

 nourishment for its singularly unnecessary frame is 

 concerned, the Tse-tse stands in no greater need of 

 the blood of mammals than do the various types 

 of mosquito. This view is in entire accord with 

 my own experiences, extending over some fifteen 

 years spent in British Central and Portuguese East 

 Africa. I am acquainted in the latter portion of 

 the country with fly-belts of considerable width 

 wherein game is not only now wholly non-existent, 

 but wherein none has occurred over a period of years. 



