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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O. 885
20 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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Okovanga Marshes, and it is a significant fact that buffalo are still met with through- out the same region. The natives in N'gamiland connect the tsetse fly with buffalo, and thereby support what is a very widely held opinion. The subject has been frequently discussed, and the most conflicting views are held by different authorities. This divergence of opinion is due, I believe, to the fact that in considering the question it is forgotten that there are different species with varying habits. Thus, it is well known that Glossina palpalis is in no way connected with game, for it will · feed upon almost any animal. Two other species-Glossina fusca and Glossina pallidipes—are, in my experience, always found associated with big game, but not necessarily with the buffalo. Glossina morsitans, on the other hand, seems to be more especially than any other the buffalo tsetse, and I myself doubt very much whether it is ever found in any district which is not visited at some season of the year by that animal.
As far as my observation went it is the only species met with in N'gamiland, and if the buffalo theory be a correct one, it explains the present distribution of teetse in that country. I saw no sign of fly along the Tamelekan; and while in the Mababe I met the Chief Mutibe, who was going on a hunting expedition to the Chobe. I asked him about tsetse, and he informed me that there was now none of it along the south bank of that river. As he was travelling with two bullock waggons, and was accompanied by a large number of mounted men, I take it his information was correct, for he and his people would not be likely to risk their cattle and horses. It seems, therefore, safe to assume that as far as N'gamiland is concerned t-etse fly is now confined to a comparatively small area in and around the Okovango Marshes. There is an impression abroad, however, that the buffalo are increasing in numbers, and that they are spreading further out. If this be so, the "fly" will most certainly follow them, so that this is a matter which requires careful watching from the point of view of the cattle owners. If Glossina palpalis, the sleeping sick- ness tsetse, exists, its distribution in this instance more or less corresponds with that of Glossina morsitans, and even if the disease were introduced it would be confined to that district only.
Note on the word "Gotsello."
The spelling of this word is that given to me by an educated native in Tsao. I observe from a dictionary compiled by the Reverend J. Brown, of the Londou Missionary Society, that otsela is a verb meaning to be sleepy, with eyes heavy. and gotsello is, I presume, the noun derived therefrom, meaning the state of being drowsy or sleepy.
I was informed by Mr. Kelsall, of Tsao, that the word is one more or less in common use, and that it is not used exclusively as a name for the disease.
26911
No. 14.
NORTHERN NIGERIA.
J
THE SECRETARY OF STATE to THE GOVERNOR.
(Sent 12.5 p.m., 12 August, 1909.)
TELEGRAM.
[Answered by No. 19A.]
12 August, 1909. Regret to inform you that Lang, Assistant Resident, has been found to have trypanosomiasis. Believed to have been infected last August. As this is second case in two years, please institute careful investigation of distri- bution of sleeping sickness and tsetse flies in Protectorate generally, and in Lang's district in particular. Highly desirable to warn Europeans in district take neces- sary precautions. All entomological material may be sent for identification to Guy Marshall, Natural History Museum, South Kensington.- CREWE.
27116
No. 15.
RHODESIA.
DR. J. C. SPILLANE to THE BRITISH SOUTH AFRICA COMPANY. (Received in Colonial Office, 13 August, 1909.)
DEAR Mr. BRODIE,
Sea Lawn, Babbacombe, July 6th, 1909.
I AM sending you under a separate registered cover the long-delayed report I promised you long ago. I have found most difficult to get done during holiday time, and an attack of flue when I was in the middle of it still further delayed it.
It may interest you to know that the recent experiments of Dr. Kleine at Kisugu have at last proved that it takes about 20 days for a fly to become an infective agent after ingesting infected blood, thus pointing to a developmental cycle in the body of the fly analogous to the development of the malaria parasite in the body of the mosquito. This developmental cycle has yet to be worked out, but it is, neverthe- less, an important discovery, as it at once places the disease, and points out the tracks on which to work at it.
I hope you don't think my remarks as to the possibility of events in North- Western Rhodesia too gloomy. I think it probable that in time the fly will invade the valley of the Zambesi, in which case the danger to North-Western and Southern Rhodesia cannot be over-estimated.
I am coming to London this week, and letters addressed to my club will find me.
Yours sincerely,
To the SECRETARY,
Enclosure in No. 15.
THE BRITISH SOUTH AFRICA COMPANY,
J. C. SPILLANE
THE policy adopted in regard to measures taken in North-Eastern Rhodesia for the prevention of the spread of sleeping sickness may be briefly summarised as follows:-
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Along that part of North-Eastern Rhodesia bordering on German East Africa and the Congo Free State, an area has been defined called the sleeping sickness area, with which no direct communication is allowed either from without or within North- Eastern Rhodesia. The term "sleeping sickness area is here employed in an administrative sense only, and the expression must not be taken as indicating the necessary presence of infection throughout every part of it. A definite line between infected and uninfected must, for administrative purposes, be drawn somewhere, and the line taken in this case is largely composed of natural and administrative boundaries as being the most convenient and, at the same time, the most definite; moreover, provision has to be made in this area for the natives moved away from immediate contact with the fly. The sleeping sickness area lays no claim, therefore, to be a scientific distinction between infected and uninfected country, or even a dis- tinction as to where sleeping sickness does or does not exist, but it is a convenient term applicable to an administrative area which, on account of sleeping sickness, it is of paramount importance to control. In this area are all the cases of sleeping sickness so far found in North-Eastern Rhodesia, and some 360 to 380 miles of Glossina palpalis (the fly most closely associated with, and known to spread, the disease) on the rivers and lakes of the borders. On the rivers and lakes outside this arca this fly has not yet been found. Last year, with the exception of the villages on Lake Mweru, the whole of the population living in contact with the fly were moved away for distances varying from five to eight miles or more according to the configuration of the country, and all communication with the fly-infested rivers and lakes forbidden. On Lake Mweru, where it was found impossible to move the large population on account of the scarcity of water, extensive clearings are relied on (the fly being very thinly distributed there), and this measure so far has been attended with success, but careful observation as to the incidence of fresh cases in that district must decide the wisdom of such a course. There are now three medical officers appointed to the sleeping sickness area, and a thorough and systematic examination of the population exposed to infection, extending over a period of two years from the time of removal from the fly, should suffice to determine the number
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