The Eastern Congo 



the already stifling atmosphere.* This part of the valley 

 is but sparsely inhabited and food is difficult to obtain but 

 the natives, such as there are, are ruled by Bahima chiefs 

 who possess some fine herds of cattle, so we were again able 

 to procure butter and milk. 



The day before reaching Mbeni we took up our quarters 

 for the night in one of the brick buildings attached to the 

 sleeping-sickness hospital. The hospital, which I under- 

 stand was built partly with the money from a legacy left 

 by King Leopold II and partly by subscriptions obtained 

 for the purpose by the Queen of the Belgians, consists of 

 many rows of double roomed tin-roofed huts, dispensaries, 

 kitchens, and out-houses, as well as a good doctor's residence 

 on the hill above. The place is now in a state of some neglect 

 as it is in charge of a black overseer — there being no doctor 

 available. There were thirty-three cases of sleeping-sickness 

 at the hospital, but as the work of taking blood-smears 

 and searching the villages for infected natives is no longer 

 carried out, this number is no criterion of the prevalence 

 or otherwise of this scourge. The disease is in fact on the 

 decrease in this district and the time opportune to strangle 

 the last bit of life out of the dying germ, if a little interest 

 and energy were once again revived in the combat. Whereas, 

 if left as it is now, this plague may well recur again in as 

 violent a form as previously. 



One day, in the gradual opening up of this part of the 

 continent, the waterway of the Semliki will play an important 

 part, but whilst its banks are " fly " infested its use for this 



* It is well known to many Central African natives as well as myself that 

 camping under some species of acacia trees results in feverish symptoms the 

 following morning, and is therefore to be avoided. 



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