The Dreaded Tsetse Fly.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIII, Issue 156, 2 July 1892, Page 11

The Dreaded Tsetse Fly.

Africa's Greatest. Pest Moving to the

North,

All white men who visit regions in Africa infeatod by the tsetse fly have much to say about ic. There is now evidence that the tsetse is moving gradually to more northern regions, and the cause is supposed to be that South Africa is deple bed of its large game, much of which is moving northward to get away from hunters, and the tsetse fly is going with it. The'insect is only a little larg«r than the ordinary house fly, and it resembles the honeybee. Its sting is hardly so annoying as that of the mosquito, but near the base of the proboscis is a little bag which contains its poison. It lives, on the blood of animals, and only a few species are fatally affected by its bite. Cattle, horses, and dogs, however, cannot'live when bitten by the tsetse fly. Nabiveß who herd cattle and travellers who depend on horses and oxen mustf avoid the fly regions or lose their stock. For human beings' its bite has no serious consequences

Mr Swan, a missionary in Kafcanga, near the western headwaters of the Congo, says that recently the buffaloes of South Africa, which differ from those of fche Congo, have been moving northward into the Katanga country. It is to the buffalo that the English missionary attributes the prevalence of tsetse in Katanga. When Lieutenanb Le Marinel went to Katanga, more than a year ago, he took a dozen head of cattle, intending to leave them at the station there and raise a Jurge herd. The tsetse was too much for them, however, and in a short time only two of the cattle remained. Sometimes the poison kills the victim in a week or ten days. At other times the animal lingers along for several months. The symptoms are those of blood poisoning. White mea in Africa express the opinion that wifctt the gradual disappearance of large game the tsetse will vanish. If it does not it will be impossible to carry on many enterprises that would certainly thrive in some regions now infested by the fly.—' Chicago Herald.'