HUNTING AND HUNTED IN BELGIAN CONGO 



certain amount of matamma — native flour — with the 

 white. 



Visitors to Central Africa have often wondered how 

 the numerous skin sores so often seen in this country 

 arise. I have spoken to a great many of the older resi- 

 dents of the country in Uganda and other parts, and 

 almost without exception they attribute this malady to 

 an excessive use of matamma. At any rate, I am con- 

 vinced that visitors to this country should avoid bread 

 or porridge made either wholly or partly of matamma. 

 There is no doubt that in the majority of cases it is far 

 from clean, often enough containing thirty per cent, of 

 dirt and sand. During my first visit to the Lado I 

 became covered with horrible open pustules, and I feel 

 sure that when starting on the march in the early morning 

 the coarse wet grass that I had to brush through left 

 poisonous matter on these wounds : my knees, which were 

 uncovered, suffered most. In some parts of the country 

 it is impossible to keep bandages on any part of one's 

 body or limbs. 



130 



