The locust plague and its suppression / by Æneas Munro.

  • Munro, Aeneas.
Date:
[1899]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The locust plague and its suppression / by Æneas Munro. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    37/388 page 13
    *3 to be free, but so far as Africa, at all events, is concerned, the statement turns out to be undoubtedly incorrect. It is already known that they exist throughout Central Africa, and it is highly probable that they will be found all over the continent of Africa, the high plateaux in the centre making Africa quite different from America. See Drummond’s Tropical Africa, p. 174. The following letter is a further proof that locusts abound in Central Africa :— Johannesburg, January 23, 1899. 37. Testimony from Central Africa.—Dear Dr. Munro,—I have pleasure in stating, according to your request, what I saw generally as well as re locusts in my travels in the north of South Africa and in Central Africa. There were three partners of us, and we went on a trading tour as well as on a voyage of experience and discovery. We started from Buluwayo, and trekked northwards, along the Guay River, crossing the Zambesi River at Wankies Drift, about the 27 th degree- longitude, that is, seventy or eighty miles east of the Victoria Falls, or about the confluence of the Guay River with the Zambesi. We travelled in a northerly direction to the Mashu Kalumbwe country, passing through parts of the Betonga country, and crossing the Mashu Kal- umbwe northern border at Naupagi. We then journeyed north-west to the Kafue River, extending about 250 miles into Central Africa proper, to the north of the Zambesi River at the point mentioned. As far as we could ascertain, never did any white man travel in these parts or along the same route through the Mashu Kalumbwe country before. The natives made long journeys to see us. In the Betonga country, for a distance of about 100 miles to the north of the Zambesi,, over which the Chartered Company has some sort of influence, the natives are peaceably inclined, and before approaching you, the custom —amounting to a rule—is universally observed, namely, to lay down their arms—assegais. But farther north in the Mashu Kalumbwe country they do not do so, they do not acknowledge this right or obligation upon approaching a white person, so they retain some seven or eight assegais under the left arm, and one in the right hand, ready for action if they see occasion. In all that country the natives have no firearms, and all appear to be very frightened of them. The Betongas use the old elephant muzzle-loading guns, and seldom do they ever waste a shot, as they shoot at a very short range. We met with some trouble on more than one occasion from the Mashu Kal- umbwe natives. 38. The locust plague extends all over the country through which we travelled. We passed many swarms on the wing during our journey. The natives suffer immensely by the locusts, and many of the Betonga natives are in great wretchedness from this cause, and are actually dying of starvation, the locusts having almost cleared the fields of grain. 39. In order to illustrate the state of things induced from this cause in that country, it will be well to state what I passed through—
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