324 MOSQUITOES OF NORTH AMERICA 



It means a listless activity in the world's work that counts mightily against the 

 wealth-producing power of the people. Finally it means from two to five million 

 or more days of sickness with all its attendant distress, pain of body, and mental 

 depression to some unfortunate individuals of those five States.' 



" Eef erring to the Delta region in Mississippi, which lies along the Mississippi 

 Eiver in the western part of the State of Mississippi, extending from the mouth 

 of the Yazoo Eiver north nearly to the Tennessee line, Herrick says that it ia 

 the second best farming land in the world, having only one rival, and that is the 

 valley of the Nile. 



" ' Still,' says Herrick, ' this land to-day, or at least much of it, can be bought at 

 ten to twenty dollars an acre. Thousands of acres in this region are still covered 

 with the primeval forest, and the bears and deer still roaming there offer splendid 

 opportunities for the chase, as evidenced by the late visit of our Chief Executive 

 to those regions for the purpose of hunting. Why is not this land thickly 

 settled ? And why is it not worth from two to five hundred dollars an acre ? If 

 it produces from one to two or more bales of cotton to an acre, and it does, it 

 ought to be worth the above named figures. A bale of cotton to the acre can be 

 produced for thirteen dollars, leaving a net profit of twenty to forty dollars for 

 each bale, or forty to eighty or more dollars for each acre of land cultivated. 

 Moreover, this land has been doing that for years, and will do it for years to 

 come, without the addition of one dollar's worth of fertilizer. Land that will 

 produce a net profit of forty to eighty dollars an acre is a splendid investment 

 at one, two, or even three hundred dollars an acre. Yet this land does not sell 

 in the market for anything like so much, because the demand is not sufficient, 

 for white people positively object to living in the Delta on account of malarial 

 chills and fevers, A man said to me not long ago that he would go to the Delta 

 that day if he were sure that his own life and the lives of the members of his 

 family would not be shortened thereby. There are thousands exactly like him, 

 and the only reason that these thousands do not go there to buy lands and make 

 homes is on account of chills and fevers. But there is a time coming, and that 

 not far distant, when malaria in the Delta will not menace the would-be in- 

 habitants. When that time comes it will be the richest and most populous 

 region in the United States.' " 



At the beginning of this chapter are mentioned the ravages of the disease 

 in India and Africa. The situation in these countries is well summed up by 

 Prof. A. E. Shipley in a paper on malaria,* from which we quote : 



" It has been said that one-half the mortality of the human race is due to 

 malaria. This may very well be an exaggeration, but there can be little doubt 

 that, of all the ills that flesh is heir to, malaria is the most deadly, and exercises 

 the most profound influence on the distribution and activities of man. It will 

 be seen later that the disease is most rife where the densest populations are found, 

 and the mortality of such closely crowded area as India gives some idea of the 

 enormous loss of life and the widespread suffering caused by this disease. In 

 1892, out of a total population in India of 217,255,655, the deaths from all 

 causes reached the figure of 6,980,785. Of these, 4,921,583 were ascribed to 

 'fever.' All these fevers were not, of course, malarial, but comparison with 

 other statistics leads to the belief that a high percentage of them was caused by 

 malaria. Major Eoss states that in 1897 over 5,000,000 deaths in the same 

 country were recorded as due to ' fever,' and that out of a total strength of 

 178,197 men in the British army in India, 75,821 were treated in the hospitals 

 for malaria. Fifty years ago the loss from malaria amongst the European popu- 



* Pearls & Parasites, by Arthur E. Shipley, London, 1908. (The chapter on malaria covers 

 pages 129 to 154.) 



