Manchester Memoirs, Vol. xlili. ( 1 899), No. 0. 3 



the French Fathers have ever used it. Our northern route 

 is comparatively new. 



Buddu, where, as far as I can make out, this plague 

 has always been worst, is the most southerly province 

 of Uganda and lies next to German territory. It is 

 on the route which has always been used, whether 

 by land or water, from the south to Uganda. The 

 eastern coast of Lake Victoria and the route north 

 through Kavirondo are comparatively little known even up 

 to the present day. Not only has this plague not recently 

 travelled to Buddu, but of recent years it has been less 

 severe there than formerly. I have quite lately heard 

 from a German, who has just come from the south of 

 the Lake, that the plague is at present confined to a small 

 area in Bukola, in German territory, just below Buddu. 

 So that, if this plague has made its way to Central Africa on 

 the track of Arab caravans, I think we must in all fairness 

 assign German East African territory as the way by 

 which the plague has been introduced. Of course this is 

 only an opinion, resting on the arguments given above. 

 If the plague had been introduced by the Mombasa route 

 to Uganda, there ought to be traces of it between here 

 and the coast, but I have never heard of any. The same 

 remark, however, would apply to the German route. 

 But why should not such a plague have broken out here 

 from original germs as in China, or as the Great Plague 

 in London, without necessarily being introduced from 

 such long distances ? The wonder is that there are not 

 many more plagues arising from the vast net-work of 

 undrained swamps in this part of tropical and equatorial 

 Africa. 



