OM BANTU NEGROES 



(lisiTustiiii^r disease known as franJxt'sld, or ''yaws." The "yaws" develop 

 usually tirst in tlu' feet by tlie unknown infection (the source of this 

 disease is not yet ascertained^ gainini^ entrance through a crack in the 

 skin or a small sore. Tiie sores reappear on the face, arms, legs, back 

 of the neck, chest, abdomen, and armjdts, never on the back. The disease 

 may iiin for twelve months or more if no measures are taken to cure it, 

 and long after the diseas(^ has disa})peared from the body the feet still 

 remain aftected. Altliough ])r. E. U. Moffat, who has inquired into 

 the (|uestion of this skin disease, is of opinion that it has nothing to 

 do with syphilis in its origin, it nevertheless yields before the internal 

 administration of mercury. 



Lej)rosy is not an infrequent occurrence amongst the Baganda. The 

 so-called bubonic plague has from time to time been the cause of many 

 deaths, and it is a disease much dreaded by the Baganda and adjoining 

 peoples. Curiously enough, although it is incessantly talked of by the 

 natives, no ascertained case has ever come under the observation of trained 

 medical officers, and the Baganda are apt to apply their word for " plague " 

 to any virulent disease which carries people off suddenly. Still, from 

 the accounts of the English and French missionaries and the German 

 authorities to the south of the Uganda border, there is little doubt that 

 in Buddu, and perhaps also in Busoga, the bubonic plague, or some 

 disease related to that malady, exists in an endemic or chronic form. 

 There have been several e})idemics of influenza, introduced, of course, 

 by Europeans and Asiatics from the coast of the Indian Ocean. This 

 malady proved very fatal amongst the Baganda in 1899, 1900, and 1901. 

 Pneumonia is a common complaint, and a very fatal one amongst the 

 Baganda. Phthisis is scarcely ever met with among these peojale, so 

 far as my information goes. Skin diseases of all kinds are exceedingly 

 common amongst these people, who are not, as a race, as cleanly as is 

 usually supposed (from the fact that they are often seen clad in snowy 

 white cloth). The Baganda swarm with lice both on their lieads and 

 bodies, and in tlieir houses fleas and even bugs are common. The 

 jigger, or bui rowing flea, at one time between 1890 and 1899 caused 

 great distress among the people l^y the festering wounds it caused in 

 their fe(4. I'ut the insect, for some reason, has become scarcer during 

 the last few years, and the natives are more diligent than formerly in 

 eradicating the flea and tencHng the sores it creates. In addition to 

 sy])liilis the liaganda suffer much from gonorrhcea and its sequela'. 



iVjiart from syphilis, the doctors of the Church ^Missionary Society are 

 of opinion tliat the worst enemy of the Baganda at the present time is 

 the sleeping sickness. This mysterious disease was formerly unknown in 

 I'ganda, but seems to have travelled there slowly from the west coast of 



