0. moubata 99 



Treatment of Bites : Wellman (in Ms.) recommends prolonged bathing 

 in very hot water, followed by the application of a strong solution of 

 bicarbonate of soda, which is allowed to dry upon the skin. He states 

 that this treatment is comforting. For severe itching he advises 

 smearing the bites with vaseline, which is slightly impregnated with 

 camphor or menthol. Medical aid should be sought when complications 

 arise. 



Prevention against being bitten : Livingstone (1857, p. 628) noted 

 the danger of sleeping in native huts at Tete and (p. 382) wrote : " I 

 had felt the effects of its bite in former years, and eschewed all native 

 huts ever after." He was, nevertheless, bitten at Ambaca in a European 

 house. Again he states (1874, p. 33) " the human tick, which infests all 

 Arab and Suaheli houses," and, writing at Nyafigwe\ the ticks "that 

 follow wherever Arabs go, made me miserable, but the Arabs are in- 

 sensible to them ; Abed alone had a mosquito curtain, and he never 

 could praise it enough." 



Manson (1903, p. 714) writes that the natives in some districts 

 " protect themselves against the tick by plastering the walls and floors 

 of their huts with mud and cow-dung ; a practice adopted by the Boers, 

 the Bechuanas and nearly all the cow-keeping native tribes. They 

 frequently smoke their huts to drive the ticks from their lodgement in 

 the thatch." 



The Portuguese always warn newcomers not to place beds on the 

 ground and to search their mosquito nets before retiring at night. 



Wellman (1906 and 1907) says the natives of Angola are at times 

 forced to burn their huts to get rid of these ticks. The use of insecticide 

 powders (Pyrethrum) has been recommended. 



Wellman reports to the Government of Angola four recommendations, 

 of which we quote three : 



"(1) The tick in question should be regularly destroyed in crowded 

 centres by disinfecting native houses, barracks and other permanent 

 quarters, and by burning old camps, huts, etc. 



" (2) Soldiers, labourers on plantations, etc., should be made to keep 

 their houses clean, and to sleep in hammocks or in beds well raised from 

 the floor and away from the wall. Natives should never be allowed to 

 sleep in or near the quarters of Europeans. 



"(3) Soldiers, porters, servants, plantation labourers, and other 

 controllable bodies of natives should be compelled to observe regulations 

 regarding regular bathing and washing of clothes." 



Naturally whites should avoid sleeping in or near native kraals and 



