Effects of the Climate on Health. 251 



V. HEALTH IN THE TROPICS AND CLIMATIC 

 INFLUENCES. 



If a man cannot keep well in tropical Africa, he had 

 better leave it for another climate, as he will have no 

 happiness there if his health is bad, for the discomforts and 

 hardships he will often need to undergo, if he lives a wild 

 life, will be more than he can bear. 



There is no doubt Central Africa induces an irritability 

 in white men, and often well educated and sensible men 

 behave here in a way they would never think of doing at 

 home. I have not noticed that liver complaint attacks 

 white men here to the extent it does in India, but the 

 climate has often a very deleterious effect on European 

 brains, and this often turns an intelligent, humane-minded 

 man into little better than a wild beast, causing him to 

 treat natives brutally and unjustly. 



The natives are often to blame, for they seem to have 

 wonderful powers of aggravation and annoyance, not 

 always from intent, but through pure stupidity and cussed- 

 ness. Europeans who possess a highly sensitive nature, or 

 who are naturally short or hot-tempered, suffer in this way 

 more than those of an easy-going, patient nature, whose 

 equanimity it is difficult to upset. 



If a man suffers a great deal from malarial fever, or has 

 suffered from it in another country before he came here, as 

 I did, he should never bathe in the evening, particularly in 

 cold water, as this is sure to induce a chill and bring out 

 the fever. The best time to bathe is about midday, before 

 having lunch. I suffered greatly from malarial fever before 

 I had a bad attack of blackwater fever, but since then I have 

 suffered little, and I think the blackwater fever carries 

 most of the germs out of the system. I only give this 

 opinion for what it is worth, as I am not a medical man, 

 but such has been the case with myself, and I have also 

 heard others mention it. When a man gets wet from 

 being soaked by rain, or from perspiration after a hot walk 



