CHAP. XVIII THE UNHEALTHINESS OF EAST AFRICA 371 



centre in Kavirondo, smallpox broke out among the porters. 

 Every attempt was made to isolate the invalids and check the 

 spread of the disease, but in vain ; it swept through the caravan. 

 The men had to make long marches every day across a high 

 plateau, which is generally cold and wet. The only available 

 food was beans and banana flour, and at night the men had to 

 sleep in the open air. Under these conditions an attack was 

 almost necessarily fatal. The men died off like flies ; the 

 baggage, including a valuable collection of natural history 

 specimens and sporting trophies, had to be abandoned, and 

 only a mere handful of men straggled into the next station on 

 the road. 



A better state of things might be expected in the per- 

 manent stations ; but unfortunately for the reputation of East 

 Africa, these are, as a rule, situated in unhealthy places. Most 

 of the coast towns, such as Lamu and Zanzibar, are built beside 

 tidal swamps, from which twice a day arise poisonous malarial 

 exhalations. The inland stations are mostly in the valleys 

 beside rivers and lakes, and the mission settlements seem 

 especially placed in unhealthy positions. For example, there 

 are three mission stations in the Tana valley, and they are each 

 situated on the river bank and beside swamps. The Wesleyan 

 station at Golbanti lies in the broadest tract of swamp on the 

 Tana, and in the rainy season the little island on which it 

 stands can only be approached by wading waist deep through 

 slush and water. The temptations of a beautiful prospect, 

 shady walks, and cool clear springs led to the establishment of 

 the Scottish Industrial Mission at Kibwezi in the middle of a 

 forest. It has in consequence proved disastrously unhealthy at 

 certain seasons of the year. The only station on the Uganda 

 road which is situated on open moorland, away from swamp 

 and forest, is Machakos, and this has justified Lugard's choice 

 by proving the most healthy station in British East Africa. 



There is plenty of ground in the country like Machakos, 

 where Europeans, with proper precautions, ought to live and 

 prosper. Open moorland at the height of from 4000 to 5000 

 feet above the sea offers the best chances of successful European 

 settlement. At higher elevations, though the air is cooler, the 

 daily variation in temperature is excessive ; and these heights 

 are not even free from fever, for Brehme's recent work on 



