194 



UNDER THE AFRICAN SUN 



the purpose of a waiting-room for the patients. Four hospital 

 huts have been erected, similar to what has answered so well at 

 Masindi, and the hospital grounds are similarly enclosed by a 

 grass-fence. On my second visit to Fajao, I was very thankful 

 to "have a hut ready to receive the poor soldier who was so badly 

 mauled by the man-eating lioness. It is always well to have a 

 special place for patients. 



A male or female negro in the full bloom of lusty adoles- 



THE HOSPITAL AT FAjAO. 



cence has a strong peculiar odour which European olfactory 

 nerves fail to appreciate. When unwashed feet and foul ulcers 

 are superadded, the effect is overpowering. A whiff from the 

 bottomless pit with the lid off is what one imagines, if popular 

 notions respecting that undesirable place are to be relied on, 

 the only thing that can possibly equal it. 



Abura, one of the Shuli chiefs, came to me to be treated. 

 He was suffering from a complication of diseases. For one 

 of these I had to perform the operation which Jews and Moham- 

 medans practise as a religious rite. Amongst Africans some 

 races perform it also as a national custom, other races abhor 



