THE COUNTRY 335 
future, by science, diminished or controlled? Can fever and 
unknown diseases be overcome? Can native tribes that by 
long custom have entrenched themselves in habits of wander- 
ing and idleness be so educated, so firmly and wisely ruled, 
that these predispositions of theirs can be overcome and 
that they shall be taught to work with and under the white 
settler. 
Only to name these, and they are but a few of the African 
problems, is enough to indicate the gravity of the situation. 
On the other hand, much of East Africa is extraordin- 
arily fertile if Uganda is included on our survey. It is 
impossible at present to state what immense products of 
food and raw material the soil can yield. Nowhere has it 
been more than scratched in isolated patches here and there. 
If the food-producing capacities of the East, of India and 
China has been pretty well reached already, then it is an 
asset that could greatly add to their store. Many millions 
might be fed by grains and fruit raised in that rich land lying 
between the Nile Valley and the Eastern sea. It would 
seem that from an agricultural point alone the country is 
worth holding. If it is to be held, it must be studied, de- 
veloped, ruled. A beginning is being made in the first. 
Some excellent scientific men are now at work searching into 
the problems presented by its diseases in man and beast, its 
capacities for producing grain and fruit, cotton, fibre, etc., 
etc., but their present equipment is very inadequate. 
As to its development, the real and pressing need of some 
real policy is apparent. There has as yet been no extensive 
survey made of lands opened to immigrants. Immigration 
has been invited, but when newcomers arrive nothing is 
ready for them. They have been told to go on to the country 
and look out locations for themselves. When at last these 
have been chosen, they find their intended homesteads lie 
within some native or government reserve, and all they have 
done has to be done over again. I have known men to be 
