"JAMBO, BWANA" 



grass erected for travellers are kept clean, a very good 

 idea. I noticed when travelling through Uganda that 

 some people — Europeans as well as Indians — invariably 

 leave the grass huts — erected by their boys to sleep 

 in overnight — standing. Now, this is a foolish, almost 

 a criminal act of negligence. It is to the interest of all 

 that these camping grounds be kept clear of old grass, 

 and that the huts should not be left to rot on the grounds, 

 for the spirillum tick and jiggers rest and breed in such 

 rubbish. I have often had to give fixed camping grounds 

 a wide berth, purely for the reason that on my arrival 

 I found that the safari preceding me had not complied 

 with the customary rule of burning and clearing away 

 remains of the huts erected by them during their stay. 



The value of the vultures, dogs, and certain insects 

 of scavenging propensities cannot be over-estimated. 

 The filth and squalor of the African native is appalling ; 

 he is utterly ignorant of the principles of sanitation, 

 and were it not for the heavy rains and winds and the 

 living scavengers I have referred to it would be well-nigh 

 impossible to enter a native village. It is a matter of 

 wonderment that the land is not periodically devastated 

 by plague or other epidemic. 



Some people allow their carriers to camp on the same 

 patch as themselves. For reasons of health alone our 

 porters were located sixty yards or so away from our 

 tents. Spirillum fever, often of a virulent nature, com- 

 municated by a bite from the spirillum tick or jigger, is 

 more often than not caught in this way. It is a form of 

 paralysis of an intermittent nature, generally lasting for 

 some months. It has in many cases ended fatally. 



That night I awoke to see the moon high in the heavens. 

 I felt terribly sleepy as I stretched my arm over my head 

 and gazed at the dense canopy of huge banana leaves 

 that stood with their clear-cut outlines against the starry 

 heavens. Within fifteen minutes of my rousing the deep 



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