GENERAL ROUTINE WORK 55 



encountered, but the yellow or white fungus is also to be seen. The pink variety- 

 has not come under my notice. The foot is the j^art principally affected, but 

 the inguinal glands are often involved, pointing to a spread by the lymphatics. 

 They may break down in the centre, and become what is practically a cyst with 

 pigmented walls. The ankle- and knee-joints may become involved and disin- 

 tegrated. The Laboratories' Museum possesses a fine specimen of mycetoma of 

 the hand — a case of twenty years' duration in a Nile boatman, aged 65. The 

 soui'ce of infection of the disease is unknown. It is worth noting that the 

 Northern Sudan is largely a country of thorn bush. 



Jigger. — I have no information as to this pest. 



Insect Bites. — Those of sand-flies and owl-midges are often more severe 

 and irritating than those of mosquitoes. Colonel Talbot has recently sent a 

 new and very vicious species of Siinulium from Abu-Hamed. 



Tick Fever probably exists in the Bahr-El-Gliazal. It is not seen in 

 Khartoum or Omdurman, nor are ticks a nuisance in these places save to 

 cattle and sheep. 



Snake Bites. — Rare, considering the large number of poisonous snakes in 

 the country. On the Sobat there is a viperine snake which protects itself by 

 spitting in one's eyes. The venom is very acid, and dries up into small white 

 crusts when ejected on a glass surface. 



Leeches ( Alak). — Common in the SAvamps of the Southern Sudan. I have 

 found them clinging in dozens to the under surface of a crocodile, and they 

 have been discovered within the beak of a whale-headed stork ( Balinceceps 

 rex). Those on the crocodile, when dislodged, fastened at once on the feet of 

 the Egyptian who was skinning the reptile. 



Eye Troubles. — I cannot say much about these. Cataract and corneal 

 ulcer both occur. I have a specimen of Staphyloma sent by Dr. Christopherson. 

 The Sudanese, as mahugerers, sometimes put the milky juice obtained from the 

 " Ushar " plant, Calotropis procera., into their eyes, in order to produce 

 iufianunation. I have seen women collecting this juice ; but whether they 

 employ it to destroy female infants, a use to which it is said to be put in 

 India, I cannot tell. There is much blindness — the result of small-pox. 



A PPENDIX 



(\) Epide7nics 



Small-pox (Gidri). — Is said to be endemic, and occui's in epidemics. 

 May cause many deaths if unchecked. There was a small epidemic in 

 Omdurman last year. A good many of the cases were confluent and severe. 

 The natives recognise and appreciate the benefits conferred by vaccination. 



Cholera (Shota). — Has reached Wady Haifa. Will probably visit the Sudan 

 fi'om Egypt. The completion of the Berber-Suakin Railway may be of grave 

 significance as regards both cholera and plague. 



Enteric Fever. — Natives apparently unaffected. The disease is I'are. 



