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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

HC.O. 885

23 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

THE DIRECTOR OF AGRICULTURE,

Salisbury,

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FORWARDING Mr. Jack's report on his expedition to the Sebungwe district, as requested by him,

4

It is an excellent report, and has added considerably to our knowledge of the distribution of fly in the Sebungwe and Mafungabusi area.

Mr. Jack's remarks on page 7 of his report regarding the destruction of game, and what is being done by sportsmen and hunters in giving effect to this, are not very encouraging. It is to be feared, as I anticipated at the beginning, that the inclusion of elephant has led a number of hunters to the district with the intention of making money out of ivory, and altogether indifferent to the destruction of the antelope, which probably is, after all, the greatest factor in the distribution of

tsetse.

If it is found that throwing this area open to shooting is not followed by any apparent lessening of game and the shrinkage in the fly belt, I think it may be neces- sary later on to arrange expeditions under Government control for the purpose of the driving back and destruction of game.

Medical Director's Office,

Salisbury (Rhodesia),

21st November, 1913.

A. H. FLEMING,

Medical Director.

14th November, 1913.

Expedition to Sebungwe District—August 25th to November 1st, 1913.

SIR,

I HAVE the honour to report that, in accordance with instructions received, I left Salisbury for the Sebungwe district on August 25th. I left the railway at Gatooma, but, owing to delays in the arrival of certain impedimenta, was unable to I proceeded to the Umniati leave Gatooma until the afternoon of August 27th. River, striking it at the point known as Gowe, at the junction with the Njongwe River from the Sebungwe side. In November, 1911, this was the southern boundary of the "fly belt" up the Umniati, but investigations showed that the "fly" extended seven miles further south at the present time, though not in great numbers. Having fixed this point and made some observations on the occurrence of the "fly" to the westward, I proceeded as rapidly as possible to Gokwe, the headquarters of the Native Commissioner for the Sebungwe district, which I reached on the evening of September 6th.

I rested one day at Gokwe (Sunday), and was delayed a second day while the I then proceeded west- natives were grinding grain for supplies to take with us. ward to the junction of the Sengwa and Lutope Rivers and corrected the inap of the infested area in this region, finding that the "fly " extended much further up I reached Gokwe again the Lutope than was previously considered to be the case.

on the evening of September 17th. Here, owing to indisposition, I was delayed until the 20th, when I left towards the Zambesi, proceeding down the Sasame River. No" fly was encountered until the junction of the above river with the Gadzi was reached. Fly" is present on the Gadzi practically up to its junction with the Sasame. From near this point (Wunu's kraal) I proceeded in a S.W. direction to Sipani vlei, encountering no "fly" until that spot was reached. There, however, "fly" was found to be abundant, and in the course of one hour's steady collecting with the net I secured 86 specimens. I consider Sipani vlei an important locality in connection with tsetse in this district, as it marks an outpost of the great helt extending across the Sengwa River, and should be watched carefully in connection with the experiment aiming at the removal of the game.

Returning to Wunu's kraal, on the Sasame River, I divided the party, Mr. Ritter proceeding down the river to Piganinyemba and Nenyunka's kraal, whilst I crossed over the watershed to the Umi River, the object being Gorodema's kraal and the fly belt." Although marked as an outpost of western boundary of the Umniati the "fly belt" in the map drawn by the Native Commissioner's Department, I have no hesitation in saying that tsetse is not resident about Gorodema's kraal, although an odd specimen may have been carried there by natives passing through the infested country towards the Umniati River. I was, in fact, unable to find tsetse on any

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stream flowing into the Umi River, and had to cross the watershed towards the Umniati before any were encountered. Having corrected the map in this way, I proceeded down the Umi River to Piganinyemba and thence to Nenyunka, where I joined Mr. Ritter. Mr. Ritter had met with no tsetse on the Sasame below the Gadzi junction, and none on the Sengwa River for twelve miles above Nenyunka's kraal. I was unable to find any "fly" near Piganinyemba, although this is marked on the edge of the infested area in the Native Commissioner's map. I found the path thence to Nenyunka's quite free, and also the vicinity of Nenyunka's. Game is very numerous all along this route, and towards the end there are abundant traces of buffalo. We explored the thorn thicket where the buffalo congregate, following their paths and coming on the spots where they drink and wallow. Here the buffalo dung made the ground like a cattle kraal, but there were no signs of tsetse. borders of the infested country would seem, therefore, to have been marked too far north. We were unable to spare the time to go up the Sengwa, owing to difficulties concerning the food supply of our natives, which necessitated our making for the Zambesi as rapidly as possible. A hunter named Paxton, however, undertook to let me know at what point he encountered "fly" on his way up, and I have since heard from him to the effect that the point was about fourteen miles above Nenyunka's, and this, coupled with Mr. Ritter's observations of the absence of “fly ' up to twelve miles, fixes the limit with tolerable accuracy.

The

Leaving Nenyunka's we made our way to the Zambesi to investigate a report of the occurrence of "fly" at the junction of the Sengwa and that river. "Fly' was found in abundance on the lower reaches of the Sengwa. This is apparently an isolated belt and has never been marked in any previous map. The belt extends to within half a dozen miles of the Zambesi, but at the actual junction none could be found. As "fly" is continually carried 7-8 miles on natives, however, I do not doubt that specimens reach the Zambesi at this point at times, and the above- mentioned report is probably based on fact.

We were now in considerable difficulties for want of meal or grain for the carriers, who had had nothing but meat-and what little meal they could exchange for meat-for ten days or more. We therefore pushed on up the Zambesi without delay. En route, as arranged with the Medical Director, I paid particular atten- tion to the rivers crossed, but found no "fly" at all. Finally, arriving at Biinga's kraal, a distance of between eighty and ninety miles from the junction of the Sengwa, we struck across to Kariyangwe in order to obtain grain, and it is worthy of note that I took a tsetse at Sibaba's old kraal, about the occurrence of "fly" at which there has been some doubt in the past, although it is included in the infested area. From Kariyangwe we proceeded towards Malindi Station, deviating two days from our route in order to inspect the Mzola and Kana Rivers at their junction with the Shangani in order to ascertain if the infested area had yet extended so far south- west, as it is feared it may eventually. This part was found, however, to be still free.

I arrived at Malindi Station on the afternoon of October 29th, but had to wait thirty-six hours for a goods train, finally reaching Salisbury on the evening of

November 1st.

I met Mr. Ritter first as arranged at Gokwe, on the Umniati River, and from that time to the 28th September he accompanied me throughout. We parted at that time in order to cover more ground between us than we could together, and I rejoined him on October 28th, and we proceeded together to within two days' journey of Malindi. He was supplied with ten carriers for the trip in consideration of his rendering service as interpreter, &c.

*L

Results of Expedition.

Map of Fly Belts."-The main object of the trip was to improve the existing map of the country infested with tsetse between the Sengwa and Umniati Rivers. This was accomplished as far as time would permit, and the results of my observa- tions are embodied in the map* submitted herewith. It will be seen that the infested area has been considerably modified from that given in the last map prepared.

Improved Topographical Map. In addition to the alterations in the “fly" areas, the map itself has been considerably improved. This I was enabled to accom- This work involved plish by means of the theodolette supplied me for the purpose.

• Not received in London Office.