GAME PRESERVATION AND THE TSETSE-FLY. yrs THE EDITOR OP THE
"SPECTATOR."] SIR,—Some time ago you were kind enough to publish some letters from the president of the British Central Africa Planters' Association and myself on the subject of game preserving and the tsetse-fly. Since then the subject has not lost in importance. The sleeping sickness has now, it is said, appeared in tie Tanganyika basin in German East Africa, and also near Abercorn in North-East Rhodesia. Of this scourge Sir Patrick Manson, speaking at a dinner given to him by the African Society, said that it still had far to spread and many victims to claim, and that, among other ways of combating it, the natives on the fly-infested shores of the Victoria Nyanza were being compelled to move their villages to localities where there was no fly, and therefore no chance of infection. Mr. Austen, of the British Museum, in his monograph on the tsetse lays it down as being almost certain that the tsetse cannot exist for long without mammalian blood, and that this is almost always supplied by the game, and that when the game goes the fly disappears. On the other band, Sir Alfred, Sharpe, the Administrator of the British Central Africa Protectorate, differs from these two high authorities. In a communication addressed to the Planters' Association in answer to some representation on the subject, he said that his observations had led him to the conclusion that game and fly had little to do with one another, there often being plenty of game and no fly, and vice-versd; that he had no reason to anticipate the arrival of the sleeping sickness ; and that when it did come the medical staff of the Protectorate would be able to deal with it. It is quite possible that the Com- missioner may be right ; on the other hand, he may be wrong, and in this case the prospect before us is not a pleasant one. As soon as the disease appears in the Nyasa basin it will spread south to the Zambesi Valley with great rapidity, as there is a great deal of fly country inter- vening. In view of the imminence of the danger, it seems that an experiment might very well be made of killing and driving away the game over a certain fly district and observing carefully whether it be followed by a disappearance of the fly,—that is to say, the particular species which conveys the infection. If the plan succeeded, it would be better than driving away the natives from the infested districts, and I think no one can say whether it would succeed or not till tried. Every one must deplore the necessity of destroying beautiful and interesting creatures, but, after all, the human interest predominates. Let us suppose, what would be a perfectly analogous case, that it was found that foxes were subject to canine rabies, and that hydrophobia could not be extirpated without getting rid of foxes. No one would then, however inveterate a supporter of hunting, contend that they should be preserved—I am, Sir, &o., (Word and County Club, •
88 Holywell Street, Oxford.
T. M. HASTINGS.
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